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Witty 
Wise  and 
Wicked 
Maxims 


a  preface  bp 

HENRIX  PENE  DU  Bois 


NEW  YORK 

BRENTANO'S 

CHICAGO  WASHINGTON  PARIS 

1897 


Copyright,  i8Q2,  by 
BRENTANO'S 


171, 173  Macdougal  Street,  New  York 


Co 

SAMUEL  P.  AVERY 

I 

LOVER  OF  ART,  LOVER  OF  BOOKS 
LOVER  OF  NEW  YORK 


PREFACE. 


JOUBERT,  who  wrote  maxims,  had  an  ele- 
vated idea  of  the  value  of  maxims.  It  may 
not  have  mattered  to  him  that  he  was,  but  he 
was,  an  interested  and,  according  to  maxims 
an  incompetent,  judge.  Balzac  called  his 
maxims  axioms,  but  his  disinterested  maxims 
of  a  bachelor  about  marriage — do  you  think 
that  they  are  axioms  ?  Proverbs  that  are  only 
anonymous  maxims,  like  legal  references, 
defend  both  sides  of  every  question.  How 
Sancho  Panza  wielded  them  !  Maxims  are 
deceptive. 

They  should  be  deceptive  even  if  it  were 
possible  by  comparison  and  elimination  to 
reduce  them  to  indisputable  facts,  as  this 
maxim  of  the  negroes  in  ancient  colonies  of 
France :  "  Do  not  put  your  foot  in  an  ant- 
hill and  think  that  you  will  be  able  to  dis- 
cover the  ant  that  bit  you. ' '  Why  ?  Because 

7 


viii  Preface. 

everybody  reads  a  maxim  according  to  his 
temperament.  Because  there  are  those  who 
never  understand  anything,  and  those  who 
make  commentaries  longer  than  texts.  Be- 
cause there  is  nothing  except  the  individual- 
ity of  man  in  anything.  Maxims  are  not 
valuable. 

In  them  one  may  find  everything  that  one 
wishes.  They  are  precepts  and  they  contra- 
dict one  another.  They  are  rules  of  action 
and  everybody  interprets  them.  They  pre- 
tend to  tell  what  one  wants,  and  everybody 
who  knew  would  be  a  god.  Anybody  who 
could  tell,  instead  of  breaking  stones  on  the 
highway  or  writing  maxims,  would  kiss  the 
trembling  lips  and  diamond-powdered  locks 
of  stars.  They  are  only  the  opinions,  im- 
pressions, thoughts  of  mortal  men,  and  they 
have  no  more  interest  than  may  be  attached 
to  the  individuality  of  those  who  expressed 
them.  Maxims  that  are  anonymous  are  ab- 
solutely worthless. 

There  are  no  anonymous  maxims  in  this 
compilation  of  maxims  expressly  called 


Preface.  ix 

phrases.  They  are  phrases  witty,  wicked 
and  wise ;  are  there  any  that  deserve  one  of 
these  qualifications  and  not  one  or  both  of 
the  others  ?  Who  shall  make  the  classification 
agreeable  to  anybody  but  himself?  Yet  there 
are  the  names  of  the  authors  to  aid  one ;  for 
some  are  names  of  deliberate  wits.  But  it  is 
not  enough  to  know  them  ;  the  state  of  mind 
of  them  at  the  time  of  their  utterances  should 
be  divined.  There  are  moments  when  de- 
liberate wits  have  a  heart,  I  think. 

In  a  preface  which  Dumas  wrote  for  a 
book  of  thoughts  of  an  anonymous  person, 
one  may  read  praise  of  anonymity.  Dumas 
thinks  that  a  work  is  good  or  bad  whatever 
the  name  of  its  author  be,  and  that  to  know 
the  name  may  affect  one's  judgment  with 
particular  considerations.  He  thinks  that 
a  book  of  thoughts  should  be  judged  inde- 
pendently of  the  personality,  the  acts  and 
the  past  life  of  the  authors.  But  a  thought 
may  be  beautiful  or  not,  according  to  the 
circumstance  that  evoked  it  and  to  the  mind 
in  which  it  flashed. 


x  Preface. 

The  soldier  ^Eschylus  returning  from  bat- 
tle may  say  things  which,  coming  from  a 
poltroon  would  be  the  veriest  fanfaronade. 
Dumas  must  be  mistaken ;  for  thoughts  are 
not  ordinary  merchandise.  A  beautiful  gown 
may  come  of  a  dishonest  milliner's  workshop, 
but  a  thinker  with  vile  instincts  cannot  de- 
liver sincere  thoughts.  His  thoughts  are  his 
mind  expressed,  and  if  noble  sentiments,  en- 
thusiasm, adoration  for  the  beautiful,  be  not 
in  his  mind,  he  shall  not  draw  them  out  of 
it ;  he  shall  produce  ignoble  and  hypocriti- 
cal counterfeits. 

There  are,  in  this  book,  thoughts  of  men 
of  genius,  and  thoughts  of  simious  come- 
dians. If  they  were  not  all  signed  they 
could  not  be  easily  distinguished.  They 
were  not  all  gathered  from  printed  books; 
some  were  in  autograph  letters,  others  in 
albums.  The  extraordinary  sentiment  ex- 
pressed by  Augustine  Brohan  and  Rachel's 
comment,  are  in  a  collection  of  all  the  illus- 
trious autographs  of  the  time  made  by  Phi- 
loxene  Boyer.  There  are  unpublished  works 


Preface,  xi 

of  Meyerbeer  and  Felicien  David,  in  that 
collection  made  by  a  poet  of  genius. 

There  are,  in  this  book,  thoughts  that  are 
amazing  to  me.  They  are  thoughts  about 
women,  and  I  never  supposed  that  there 
might  be  a  particular  manner  of  regarding 
women,  the  triumphant  lilies,  the  glory  of 
the  abyss  of  infinite  azure,  the  gracefulness 
of  swans  caressed  by  waves  of  silver.  In 
June,  does  the  festival  of  roses,  the  orgy  of 
gaiety,  pleasure,  living  purple,  serve  as  a 
theme  for  any  sort  of  opinion?  Need  one 
think,  to  enjoy  the  sounds  of  delicious  music, 
the  warmth  of  wine  ;  or  to  admire  beings  to 
whom  were  given  the  harmonious  seduction 
of  rhythm  and  the  splendor  of  stars  ? 

I  have  heard  from  sages  as  Alphonse  Karr 
and  Theodore  de  Banville,  who  knew  every- 
thing, that  nature  had  created  the  sweetbrier 
and  the  female,  and  man  had  made  of  them 
the  rose  and  woman,  these  two  master-pieces 
of  ideal  grace.  I  have  read  that  women 
were  Amazons  in  Thrace  when  men  were 
warriors;  chiefs  of  armies  as  Boadicea; 


I. 

It  is  better  to  listen  to  those  who  shout 
at  us  from  afar,  "Relieve  our  misery," 
than  to  those  who  whisper  in  our  ears, 
"Augment  your  fortune." 

Marie  Lcczinska. 

ii. 

re  is  a  chill  air  surrounding  those  who 
are  down  in  the  world  and  people  are  glad 
to  get  away  from  them  as  from  a  cold  room. 

George  Eliot. 

in. 

In  love,  to  be  serious  is  to  be  grotesque. 

Paul  Meurice. 

IV. 

/^-•Hatred  is  a  precious  liquor,  a  poison 
dearer  than  that  of  the  Borgias,  because  it 
is  made  of  our  blood,  our  health,  our  sleep 
and  two-thirds  of  our  love. 

Charles  Baudelaire. 
15 


1  6  Phases  and  Phrases. 

v. 

/   God  created  fools  that  men  of  wit  might 
regret  life  less. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

VI. 

When  a  man  says  that  he  has  a  wife,  it 
means  that  a  wife  has  him.      ^*<f 

Gavarni. 

VII. 

£-~God  created  birds  to  teach  people  how  to 
kiss. 

Chincholle. 

VIII. 

chain  of  wedlock  is  so  heavy  that  it 
takes  two  to  carry  it  —  sometimes  three.  •••» 
,  «  Alexandre  Dumas. 


Pashas  like  tigers,  I  like  cats;  cats  are 
tigers  of  poor  devils. 

Theophile  Gautier. 

x. 

One  dies  in  full  happiness  of  one's  former 
unhappiness. 

Jules  Lefevre-Deumier. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  17 

XI. 

They  are  neither  relatives,  nor  friends, 
nor  citizens,  nor  Christians,  nor  men  per- 
haps :  they  have  money. 

La  Bruyere. 

XII. 

It  is  often  woman  who  inspires  us  with 
the  great  things  that  she  will  prevent  us 
from  accomplishing. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

xin. 

Happiness  is  so  fragile  that  one  risks  the 
loss  of  it  by  talking  of  it. 

Jules  Lemaitre. 

XIV. 

Let  your  charitable  gifts  be  anonymous 
gifts.     These  have  the  double  advantage  of 
suppressing  at  once  ingratitude  and  abuse. 
Alexandre  Dumas. 


There  are  Ihio.  things  difficult  :  to  keep 
a  secret,  to  suffer  an  injury,  to  use  leisure. 

Voltaire. 


1 8  Phases  and  Phrases. 

XVI. 

Clocks  that  strike  seconds  cut  life  too 
minutely.-*  £fiu|>JL  •b&jfcuj 


. 

<L—  -The  Bible  says  that  woman  is  the  last 
.kl.  -f  n  ;.  ,'t  thing  which  God  made.  He  must  have 
I  i*  f  p  /\Amac^e  ^  Saturday  night.  It  shows  fatigue. 


Alexandre  Dumas. 

XVIII. 

What  is  happiness?     Love  realized. 

Jean  Reboul. 

Friendship  ends  where  loan  begins.    *•> 

Alexandre  Dumas. 


(w, 

xx. 

_^*i  prefer  the  wicked  rather  than  the  fool- 
ish.    The  wicked  sometimes  rest. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

XXI. 

Loving  hearts  are  like  poor  folks;  they 


Phases  and  Phrases.  19 

are  contented  with  whatever   is  given   to 
them.     —  »  rV\JU*«t^Uf»   1 

XXII. 

If  one  could  be  a  little  patient  one  could 
avoid  many  troubles.  • 

jfarie  de  Sfrvignc. 


xxin. 

The  cock  of  the  walk  is  generally  a  goose. 
Victorien  Sardou. 

XXIV. 

The  most  disastrous  times  have  produced 
the  greatest  minds.  The  purest  metal 
comes  of  the  most  ardent  furnace,  the  most 
brilliant  lightning  comes  of  the  darkest 
clouds. 

Chateaubriand. 

xxv. 

^          Most   men  have  died  without  creating; 
not  one  has  died  without  destroying. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 


20  Phases  and  Phrases, 

XXVI. 

Business  is — the  money  of  others. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

XXVII. 

Duty  is  the  science  of  sacrifice. 

Jules  Simon. 

XXVIII. 

Duty  is  something  that  we  exact  from 
others. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

XXIX. 

Three  sorts  of  friends.  Friends  who  like 
you,  friends  who  do  not  care  about  you, 
friends  who  hate  you. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

XXX. 

Glory  makes  us  live  forever  in  posterity ; 
love,  for  an  instant  in  the  infinite. 

Jean  Jacques  Weiss. 

XXXI. 

^All  women  desire  to  be  esteemed ;  they 
care  much  less  about  being  respected. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  21 

XXXII. 

A  woman  dies  twice:  the  day  that  she 
quits  life  and  the  day  that  she  ceases  to 

please. 

Jean  Jacques  Weiss. 

XXXIII. 

The  Empire  of  woman  is  an  Empire  of 
sweetness,  skillfulness  and  attentiveness ;  her 
orders  are  caresses,  her  evils  are  tears. 

Jean  Jacques  Rousseau. 

xxxiv. 

Give  money,  never  lend  any.  The  giv- 
ing makes  ingrates  only,  the  lending  makes 
enemies. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

XXXV, 

We  blame  in  others  only  the  faults  by 
which  we  do  not  profit. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

xxxvi. 

Absence  is  the  greatest  of  evils  and  ob- 
livion is  the  saddest  of  remedies. 

Jean  Jacques  Weiss. 


22  Phases  and  Phrases. 

XXXVII. 

The  age  at  which  one  shares  everything 
is  generally  the  age  when  one  has  nothing. 

Octave  Feuillet. 

xxxvm. 

Insults  are  humiliating  to  those  who  utter 
them,  when  they  are  not  successful  in  humil- 
iating those  who  receive  them. 

MarmonteL 

xxxix. 

/'     In  all  undertakings   the  man  who   fails 
most  often  is  the  man  of  wit,  because  he 

risks  much. 

Montesquieu. 

XL. 

We  may  appear  great  in  an  employment 
beneath  our  merit,  but  we  often  appear 
small  in  an  employment  greater  than  we. 

La  Rochefoucauld. 

XLI. 

Not  to  do  honor  to  old  age  is  to  demol- 
ish in  the  morning  the  house  wherein  we 
are  to  sleep  at  night. 

Alphonse  Karr. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  23 

XLII. 

persons   have    enough   strength   of 
character  to  suffer  and  to  tell  the  the  truth. 

Vauvenargues. 

XLIII. 

It  is  only  the  poor  that  are  generous. 
The  rich  cannot  give;  they  have  so  many 
wants,  "so  many  necessary  superfluities,  these 
poor  rich,  ft  £*4*jM*»  lr^A.  >  S  *  *& 


lphonse  Karr. 

XLIV. 

human   mind  is  twice   limited  :    it 
may  love  several    times  and    it  may  fully 

enjoy  love  but  once.     j^l-tru/*-    aUrtWA^  <*•* 
Jean  Jacques  Weiss. 

XLV. 

There  are  minds  limpid  and  pure  wherein 
life  is  like  a  ray  of  light  playing  in  a  drop 
of  dew. 

Joubert. 

XLVI. 
Nothing   is   so  sure  a  cure  for  love   of 


24  Phases  and  Phrases. 

women  as  acquaintance  with  the  men  that 
they  admire. 

Jean  Jacques  Weiss. 

XLVII. 

A — Men   never  are   consoled  for   their  first 
love,  nor  women  for  their  last. 

Jean  Jacques  Weiss. 

XLVIII. 

Some  men  are  different;  all  women  are 
alike. 

Alfred  Delvau. 
XLIX. 

Never  say  man,  but  men;  nor  women, 
but  woman ;  for  the  world  has  thousands  of 
men  and  only  one  woman. 

Jean  Jacques  Weiss. 

L. 

Friendship  between  two  women  is  never 
anything  but  a  plot  against  a  third  woman. 

Alphonse  Karr. 

I 

L^t  is  rightfully  that  Ithaca  is  celebrated : 

one  woman  was  faithful  there.      ^-M r^A  }« 

P.  J.  Stahl. 


Phases  and  Phrases,  25 

LII. 

Of  all  the  animals  cats,  flies  and  women 
take  the  longest  time  in  dressing. 

Charles  Nodier. 

LIII. 

A  man  in  love,  if  sincere,  is  good  for 
nothing,  despite  all  that  has  been  pretended, 
but  to  make  love. 

P.  J.  Stahl. 

LIV. 

Every  book  written  by  a  woman  bears  the 
mark  of  affection  by  which  it  was  inspired. 
It  is  of  works  of  women,  particularly,  that 
one  may  say  with  BurTon  :  "  the  style  is  the 
man. 

Delphine  de  Girardin. 

LV. 

woman  often  fancies  that  she  regrets 
her  lover  whereas  she  regrets  in  fact  nothing 
but  love. 

Mme.  d*  Arconville. 

LVI. 
The  most  unfortunate  of  women  was  not 


& 


26  Phases  and  Phrases. 

the  plaintive  Ariadne  deserted  in  her  island, 
nor  Irene,  nor  even  Rachel  lamenting  the 
loss  of  her  children,  but  it  was  Eve  whom 
fate  compelled  to  live  so  long  without  other 
women,  about  whom  she  might  talk  evil. 

Jean  Jacques  Weiss. 

LVII. 

Art  is  neither  a  bust,  nor  a  head,  nor  a 
body:  it  is  the  mind,  faith,  passion,  pain. 
All  art  is  ideographic. 

Josephin  Peladan. 

LVIII. 
What  care  I  for  the  public?     I  do  not 

even  know  that  it  exists. 

Mounet-Sully. 

LIX. 
L-^Gambling  is  a  pastime  of  men  of  wit  and 

a  passion  of  fools. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

LX. 
Uncleg  are  by  nature  created  treasurers  to 

nephews.   &«^  44&4A/4 

Chevalier  Bayard. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  27 

LXI. 

To  admire,  to  love,  to  regret,  is  to  live* 
Ambroise  Thomas. 

LXII. 

Life  is  good  when  good  use  is  made  of  it. 

Ernest  Renan. 

LXIII. 

Life  is  tteautiful  when  one  sees  beyond  it. 

Leon  Bonnat. 

LXIV. 

Man  is  neither  as  good  as  he  says,  nor  as 
bad  as  is  believed.t/u-4  'WVvA^,  * 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

LXV. 

To  be  a  painter  have  a  heart  and  colors. 

Munkacsy. 

LXVI. 

How  great  is  the  number  of  folks  who 
have  existed  without  having  lived  ! 

Gounod. 


28  Phases  and  Phrases, 

LXVII. 

How  great  is  the  number  of  folks  who 
have  lived  without  having  existed  ! 

Ludovic  Halevy. 

LXVIII. 

Man  lives  by  the  mind,  woman  by  the 
heart. 

Edouard  Hervt. 

LXIX. 

£^X*A  woman's  love  is  often  a  misfortune; 
her  friendship  is  always  a  boon. 

Mezieres. 

LXX. 

In  reality  the  wise  find  rest.     Everything 
begins  in  verse,  everything  ends  in  prose. 

Camille  Doucet. 

LXXI. 

Sad  as  a  beautiful  day  for  a  heart  without 
hope. 

Francois  Coppee. 

LXXII. 

\_^-Wrinkles  are  beds  that  the  gods  have  dug 
for  our  tears. 

Emile  Augier. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  29 

LXXIII. 

Perfection  is  a  thing  so  bothersome  that  I 
often  regret  having  cured  myself  of  using 
tobacco. 

Emile  Zola. 

LXXIV. 

Like  mythology,  charity  has  its  Olym- 
pus ;  the  demigods  of  compassion  have  their 
place  in  it. 

Maxime  du  Camp. 

LXXV. 

^—Whoever  trusts  a  woman  trusts  a  thief. 

Hesiod. 

LXXVI. 

The  venom  of  the  female  viper  is  more 
poisonous  than  that  of  the  male  viper. 

Benjamin  F.  Butler. 

LXXVII. 

The  Mitylenians  honored  Sappho  although 
she  was  a  woman.  TUu  c-ft.  k.jfeL<rv 

Aristotle. 


30  Phases  and  Phrases. 

LXXVIII. 

Would  that  the  race  of  women  had  never 
existed  —  except  for  me  alone.     ^fcyvA.    V 

Euripides. 

LXXIX. 

woman  is  like    your  shadow;    follow 
her,  she  flies  ;  fly  from  her,  she  follows. 

Chamfort. 


LXXX. 

•—  Women  have  learned  to  cry  in  order  that 
they  might  the  better  lie.  Cuc 

&*******&*.  •    Publius  Syrus. 

0 

LXXXI. 

There  are  no  women  the  merit  of  whom 
lasts  longer  than  the  beauty. 

La  Rochefoucauld. 

LXXXII. 

f  -Most  women  prefer  that  one  should  talk 
ill  of  their  virtue  rather  than  ill  of  their  wit 
or  of  their  beauty. 

Fontenelle. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  31 

LXXXIII. 

Oh  woman  !    woman  !    woman  !      Weak 
and  deceptive  creature  ! 

Beaumarchais. 

LXXXIV. 

in  women  is  perhaps  a  question  of 
temperament.  «f*  "^.j^A*,  'VwvA****.  » 

La  Rochefoucauld. 


LXXXV. 

A  virtuous  woman  has  in  the  heart  a  fibre 
less  or  a  fibre  more  than  other  women  :  she 
is  stupid  or  sublime. 


Honore  de  Halt 


'zac. 


LXXXVI. 


Nothing,  after  a  stupid  woman,  is  rarer 


in  France  than  a  generous  woman. 


s  rarer 
t|  C.  * 


Delphine  de  Girardin. 


LXXXVII. 

Woman  is  stupid  by  nature,, 

George  Sand. 

LXXXVIII. 
The  beauty  and  the  virtues  of  women  are 


32  Phases  and  Phrases. 

superior  to  the  virtues  and  to  the  beauty  of 
men;  but  a  woman  ugly  and  wicked  is 
uglier  and  more  wicked  than  the  ugliest  and 

most  wicked  of  men. 

Alphonse  Karr. 

LXXXIX. 

Love  is  an  alchemist.  A  man  in  love  is 
almost  always  a  man  who  having  found  a 
piece  of  coal,  keeps  it  preciously  in  his 
pocket,  saying:  "It  is  a  diamond." 

P.  J.  Stahl. 
xc. 
Women  are  the  flowers  of  life  as  children 

are  its  fruits.    ^\iA  «•     ^U£v"   ' 

•i  Bernardin  de  Saint  Pierre. 


xci. 

I  have  always  hated  the  thoughts  of  the 
vulgar. 

Jean  de  La  Fontaine. 

XCII. 

There  are  years  when  one  is  not  in  the 
humor  to  work,     ft*   **»&>&4   'llA*wMA<M  «4- 

Henri  Murger. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  33 

XCIII. 

When  one  has  no  money  it  is  amusing  to 

work.  —    €»*&KtA'9   « 

Alfred  dc  Musset. 

xciv. 

The  man  who  is  ever  lamenting  or  ever 
rejoicing  is  playing  a  part,  for  life  is  neither 
constantly  painful  nor  constantly  gay. 

Armand  Silvestre. 

xcv. 

All  smiles  of  children  have  the  same 
white  teeth. 

Louisa  Siefert. 

xcvi. 
Cats,  sole  treasures  of  beggars.  WM**^ 

Andre  Gill. 
xcvn. 

Sorrow  is  a  fruit :  God  does  not  make  it 
grow  on  limbs  too  weak  to  bear  it. 

Victor  Hugo. 

XCVIII. 

The  true  sage  makes  for  himself  happi- 
ness in  miniature. 

Albert  Merat. 


34  Phases  and  Phrases. 

xcix. 
Pearls  of  gaiety  raining  in  the  light. 

Andre  Theuriet. 

c. 
A  libation  of  drops  of  dew. 

Jose  Maria  de  Heredia. 

ci. 

The  place  of  the  poor  is  the  place  of 
God. 

E.  Manuel. 

en. 

With  gold  pieces  are  built  pompous  pal- 
aces ;  with  a  penny  one  may  buy  a  place  in 
Paradise. 

Anais  Sega/as. 

One  word  feeds  a  crowd.  Wu  C*.        ; 

Jean  Aicard- 
civ. 

The  best  of  expedients  to  avoid  many 
troubles  in  life  is  to  think  little  of  one's 
own  interest. 

Joubert. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  35 

cv. 

One  is  just,  economical,  laborious,  a 
faithful  observer  of  his  promises,  because 
that  is  an  order  which  fetches  more  than  its 
cost. 

Lacordaire. 

cvi. 

Men  love  naturally  all  that  comes  from 
the  heart,  all  that  is  great,  all  that  dazzles 
and  even  all  that  is  strange.  A  heroic  act 
or  a  simple  act  of  generosity  moves  them 
infallibly  and  provokes  their  enthusiasm. 
They  see  these  acts ;  they  do  not  see  justice 
in  the  heart  of  the  just. 

Jules  Simon. 

cvn. 

Our  confidence  in  the  instability  of  For- 
tune is  so  great  that  excessive  prosperity  of 
our  enemies  makes  us  rejoice  as  the  signal 
of  their  impending  ruin.  S  i>t<»  ? 

Prevost-Paradol. 

CVIII. 

Whoever  is  happy,  or  seems  to  be  happy, 


36  Phases  and  Phrases. 

should  be  incessantly  on  his  knees  begging 
forgiveness  for  his  good  fortune. 

La  Harpe. 

cix. 

Women  do  not  live  in  the  future ;  their 
reign  is  from  day  to  day ;  it  is  the  reign  of 
beauty  which  can  only  lose  by  advancing. 
Women  of  genius  who  wished  to  govern  the 
world  never  contemplated  a  distant  horizon. 
Arsene  Houssaye. 

ex. 

Twin  sisters,  vanity  and  ambition,  proceed 
differently ;  the  first  goes  on  stilts,  the  sec- 
ond leans  on  a  crutch,  for  one  covets  grand- 
eur, the  appearance  of  which  is  sufficient 
for  the  other. 

Charles  de  Bernard. 

CXI. 

A  Cato  twenty  years  of  age,  an  Adonis 
fifty  years  of  age,  are  equally  ridiculous. 

Comte  de  Segur. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  37 

CXH. 

Niepce  is  dead,  and  the  machine  is  called 
a  Daguerreotype.  It  is  true  that  the  world 
discovered  by  Christopher  Columbus  is 
called  America. 

Alphonse  Karr. 

cxm. 

There  are  nations  of  genius  that  invent 
and  nations  of  business  that  execute  ;  there 
are  thinkers  who  discover  and  skilled  ones 
who  exploit  the  discovery,  and  often  for 
their  own  benefit  only.  Behind  a  Colum- 
bus there  is  almost  always  a  Vespucius. 

Hippolyte  Rigault. 

cxiv. 

Popular  successes  are  very  dangerous  be- 
cause they  are  absolute;  the  crowd  lauds 
without  restriction. 

Edmond  About. 

cxv. 

I  hate  all  these  little  passions  that  are 
only  marks  of  an  abject  soul,  but  I  do  not 
hate  the  great  crimes :  first,  because  beauti- 


38  Phases  and  Phrases. 

ful  pictures  and  great  tragedies  are  made  of 
them ;  and  then  because  sublime  actions  and 
great  crimes  have  the  same  energetic  charac- 
ter. If  one  man  was  not  capable  of  setting 
fire  to  a  city,  another  man  would  not  be 
capable  of  throwing  himself  into  an  abyss  to 
save  it.  Therefore  I  admire  Nero  and 
Decius. 

Diderot. 

CXVI. 

Cynism  is  the  ideal  overturned,  it  is  the 
parody  of  physical  and  moral  beauty,  it  is 
the  crime  of  the  mind,  it  is  the  brutalizing 
of  imagination. 

Lamartine. 

CXVII. 

:  superfluous  is  so  necessary  ! 


CXVIII. 

I  have  always  thought  that  Paul  would 
have  divorced  from  Virginia  if  he  had  seen 
his  love  become  proverbial  and  printed  in 
thousands  of  copies. 

Paul  de  Saint-  Victor. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  39 

cxix. 

I  have  never  understood  how  Esau  could 
sell  his  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage; 
'but  there  are  moments  when  the  least  sen- 
sual of  men  would  not  think  it  ridiculous  to 
pay  dearly  for  a  good  slice  of  roast  beef. 

Xavier  Marmier. 

cxx. 

It  is  impossible  to  amend  men  without 
exhibiting  them  as  they  are. 

Beaumarchais. 

cxxi. 

The  unknown,  that  is  what  frightens  weak 
minds. 

Louis  Blanc. 

CXXII. 

Misery  is  dreamy,  solitude  creative. 

Charles  Nodier. 


CXXIII. 

Money  has  no  odor.    ^  )> 

Vespasian. 

-  te 


40  Phases  and  Phrases. 

cxxiv. 

._  Provided  society  may  know  the  amount 
of  your  fortune,  nobody  shall  ask  for  your 

papers.    ^t^jLj^    W,    jf*VU*>~£^ 
yjs     _  *»  Honore  de  Balzac. 

cxxv. 
^     The  absurd  man  is  the  one  who  never 

changes. 

Barthelemy. 

cxxvi. 

There  are  circumstantial  vices  and  virtues. 

Napoleon  I. 

CXXVII. 

Exile  is  death. 

T 

cxxvm.  ^^^^  J* 

Exile  is  life. 

Victor  Hugo. 

cxxix. 
£ Pity  them,  those  who  have  lived  without 

loving.  iSX^t*     ***»    <*^WWtA-»  "^Cv^AA-A 

Arsene  Houssaye. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  41 

cxxx. 

Caprices  of  women  are  the  result  of  a  per- 
version caused  by  man. 

Taxile  Delord. 

cxxxi. 
Literary  property  is  property. 

Alphonse  Karr. 

CXXXII. 

Literary  property  is  not  property. 

Theodore  de  Banville. 

CXXXIII. 

Property  is  theft. 

Proudhon. 

cxxxiv. 
There  is   nothing   polished   in    England 

except  steel.      f^-'CMx^*      /^OsOlC  * 

Lauraguais. 

cxxxv. 
After  me  the  deluge. 

Louis  XV. 

CXXXVI. 

Calumniate,  calumniate,  calumniate,  cal- 
umniate, some  of  it  will  always  stay. 

Beaumarchais. 


42  Phases  and  Phrases. 

cxxxvu. 

Yes,  it  is  beautiful  because  it  is  beautiful. 
Guy  de  Maupassant. 

CXXXVIII. 

L>Woman  often  changes;  foolish  he  who 
trusts  her. 

Francois  1. 

cxxxix. 

Fortune  sells  dearly  to  us  what  we  think 
she  gives  to  us. 

Voiture. 

CXL. 

Nothing  is  rarer  than  a  Frenchman  who 

thinks. 

Saint- Evremond. 

CXLI. 
Nobody  is  happy  except  the  wretched. 

Mile,  de  Lespinasse. 

CXLII. 
Poverty  is  not  a  vice,  it  is  worse. 

Dufresny. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  43 

CXLIII. 

Only  silly  things  are  laughed  at.    W»  jJtJt 
Prince  de  Ligne. 

CXLIV. 

Happy  are  physicians !  Their  successes 
shine  in  the  sunlight  and  the  earth  covers 

their  failures.       fy  UxU-c    U^Li^V 

I  Montaigne. 

CXLV. 

am  not  beautiful,  but  I  am  worse. 

CXLVI. 

The  parrot,  image  of  the  critic !  He 
knows  not  how  to  build  anything  and  wants 
to  destroy  everything. 

Jules  Janin. 

CXLVII. 

Inspiration  comes  of  working  every  day. 
Charles  Baudelaire. 

CXLVIII. 

All  sensible  persons  will  prefer  dishonor 
rather  than  death. 

Augustine  Brohan. 


44  Phases  and  Phrases, 

CXLIX. 

I  prefer  to  be  Rachel  rather  than  August- 
ine Brohan. 

Rachel. 
CL. 

The  thoughts  linked  -in  a  book,  those 
which  form  the  web  of  a  book,  are  the 
sheath.  But  the  detached  thought  is  the 
flying  arrow.  It  is  isolated,  it  has,  like  the 
arrow  in  the  air,  emptiness  under  it  and 
emptiness  above.  But  it  vibrates,  it  trav- 
erses, it  is  about  to  strike.  Well,  let  us  see ; 

will  these  strike  ? 

J.  Barbey  (F  Aurevilly. 

i. 

Caesar  Borgia  was  a  giver  of  battles  with 
poison,  as  Bonaparte  was  a  giver  of  battles 
with  cannon.  It  has  not  been  demonstrated 
enough  that  poisoning  as  practised  in  the 
time  of  Machiavelli  was  the  economy  of 
murder.  In  that  epoch  they  destroyed 
certain  men  not  to  destroy  nations  by 
throwing  them  against  one  another.  Per- 
sonalities occupied  more  space ;  masses  less. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  45 

Battles  took  place  in  the  highest  grades, 
between  prince  and  prince.  A  man  was  an 
obstacle.  He  was  treated  as  such.  That 
was  called  politics.  And  for  those  who 
love  humanity  it  was  after  all,  more  human 
than  war.  But  the  perfidiousness  of  poison- 
ing? .  .  .  may  be  said.  But  the  ambus- 
cades? Is  it  not  known  in  war,  on  both 
sides,  that  there  shall  be  ambush?  If  gam- 
blers agreed  to  cheat  there  would  be  no 
more  cheating. 

2. 

In  reading  over  the  preceding  thought  on 
Brogia,  wherein  I  said  that  poisoning  was 
the  economy  of  murder,  I  spoke  in  the 
name  of  a  modern  sentiment  which  did  not 
exist  in  the  time  of  Borgia.  What  I  have 
said  is  certain ;  but  it  was  not  then  thought 
of  by  anybody.  Politics  was  a  game  played 
between  elevated  heads.  Only,  as  it  was  a 
war  of  prince  with  prince,  nations  paid  less 
of  the  expenses.  At  present  the  masses 
must  intervene  in  affairs.  With  that  system 
frightful  destructions  happen. 


46  Phases  and  Phrases, 

3- 

To  put  in  the  budget,  ever  overdone,  of 
statesmen  : 

Cardinal  Richelieu  said  that  he  knew 
only  three  great  politicians :  Oxenstiern, 
Grand  Chancellor  of  Sweden;  Guiscardi, 
Chancellor  of  Montferrat,  and  Aersens,  Am- 
bassador of  Holland  in  France.  Duplessis- 
Mornay  had  brought  him  when  quite  young 
in  France  and  was  surprised  by  the  depth  of 
his  designs.  Aersens  served  Messieurs  of 
the  States  as  Resident  in  France  from  the 
year  1598  until  the  truce  of  Antwerp. 
Henry  IV.  was  the  favored  lover  of  his 
wife ;  Aersens  was  glad  of  it.  He  held  the 
King  by  his  passions  and  governed  their  in- 
strument. 

It  would  seem  that  the  opinion  and  the 
admiration  of  Richelieu  should  suffice  for 
the  making  of  a  man's  glory.  But  who  re- 
members Aersens  and  Guiscardi  ? 

4- 
The  last   thesis   of  Cardinal    Richelieu, 


Phases  and  Phrases.  47 

when  Bishop  of  Lucon,  had  this  title: 
"Qestio  Theologica:  Quis  erit  similis 
mihi  ? ' '  These  words  have  become  a 
prophecy  after  the  fact.  Glory,  like  the 
Power  of  God,  changes  the  world's  rela- 
tions. It  makes  of  the  past  the  future. 
Deceptive  mirage,  which  overturns  things 
in  order  to  enlighten  them. 


There  are  in  the  world  only  two  sorts  of 
minds :  minds  that  are  metaphysical  and 
minds  that  are  not.  And  what  is  not  meta- 
physical is  fatalistical,  more  or  less. 

Metaphysical  minds  that  are  not  only 
metaphysical  and  that  are  superior,  are  the 
chief  minds  of  humanity.  It  is  Charle- 
magne and  it  is  Saint  Augustin. 

Minds  that  are  only  metaphysical  are 
Saint  Louis  and — lamentable  to  tell ! — 
Robespierre. 

One  not  metaphysical,  but  superior,  is 
Napoleon. 


48  Phases  and  Phrases. 

6. 

There  is  perhaps  in  history  only  one 
Tartuffe  eighteen  years  of  age.  It  is  the 
Cardinal  (future)  de  Retz,  playing  the  ec- 
clesiastic to  seduce  Mademoiselle  de  Retz. 
When  Don  Juan  plays  the  devout,  it  is  the 
devil  become  old  and  a  hermit.  Hypoc- 
risy is  the  maturity  of  vice  and  even  more 
than  its  maturity.  A  novelist  who  made  a 
Tartuffe  eighteen  years  of  age  would  be 
hissed  by  all  the  critics.  Hiss  then  His- 
tory and  Nature ! — the  rich,  unexpected  and 
exceptional  Nature. 

7- 

For  so  much  pride  that  we  take  in  it 
what  is  glory  ? 

The  noise  of  a  concert  of  men  blind  if 
they  be,  moreover,  deaf. 

8. 

Legitimists,  Monarchists,  Bonapartists 
and  men  indifferent  to  any  sort  of  govern- 
ment, may  agree  if  they  believe  in  the  gov- 


Phases  and  Phrases.  49 

ernment  of  God  on  earth.  They  may  be 
united  in  what  is  larger  than  everything,  the 
two  arms  of  Providence. 


What  a  pitiful  thing  is  political  greatness  ! 
When  La  Rochelle,  under  Louis  XIII. ,  re- 
sisted so  handsomely,  Richelieu,  who  ap- 
pears to  us  sublime  with  perseverance,  fright- 
ened by  the  English  capture  of  Fort  Saint- 
Martin  and  by  a  conspiracy  of  Buckingham, 
counselled  a  treaty.  Cardinal  de  Berulle 
made  him  deviate,  counting  on  a  certain 
something,  he  knew  not  what,  which  he 
called  trust  in  God. 

Richelieu,  the  strong-minded  man,  made 
fun  of  him.  "The  good  Monsieur  Ber- 
ulle," he  said,  "with  his  pretended  revela- 
tions !  "  He  asked  him  insolently  when 
God  was  to  keep  the  promise  with  which 
He  had  "flattered"  him.  Berulle  replied 
with  magnificent  simplicity:  "I  am  with- 
out enlightenment  but  not  without  thoughts 
and,  since  you  command,  I  will  tell  them 


$o  Phases  and  Phrases. 

to  you.  I  count  on  La  Rochelle  as  I 
counted  on  the  Island  of  Rhe\  I  expect 
success  not  from  the  siege,  nor  from  the  as- 
sault, nor  from  the  blockade,  but  from  some 
prompt  and  unexpected  effort. "  Richelieu, 
later,  took  La  Rochelle.  B6rulle's  confi- 
dence had  strengthened  him.  Who  knows 
of  Berulle's  ascendancy  over  Richelieu,  dis- 
couraged, sarcastic,  insolent  and  on  the 
point  of  crushing  this  proud,  great  man? 
Nobody!  Richelieu  appears  as  an  eternal 
marble,  an  Olympian  mind,  before  those 
who  gad-about  and  believe  in  the  truth  of 
glory. 

10. 

The  greatest  men  in  politics,  as  in  war, 
are  those  who  are  last  to  capitulate. 

ii. 

I  am  really  of  those  who  think  that  the 
best  way  to  see  the  world  is  to  see  it  through 
the  great  poems.  The  poets  surpass  travel- 
ers and  reality,  and  give  for  the  world  of 
railway-car  windows  the  sublime  disdain 


Phases  and  Phrases.  51 

that  makes  us  keep  our  heads  on  cushions 
with  Sardanapalesque  pleasure. 

12. 

Cowardice  is  even  more  in  the  depths  of 
minds  than  of  temperaments.  The  trouble 
and  fear  that  the  force  of  affirmation  pro- 
duces is  not  known  enough.  All  the  evil 
done  by  journalism  came  of  knowing  how 
to  affirm. 

13- 

They  talk  of  progress  !  And  modern  gov- 
ernments would  certainly  not  wish  to  be  in 
the  place  of  their  grandsons. 

14. 

Oh !  yes,  I  know  the  evil  that  may  be 
done  with  the  best  sentiment.  There  is 
suffered  neither  regret  nor  remorse  for  the 
blows  that  are  given. 

i5- 

There  is  true  in  life  nothing  but  the 
chimeras  whereof  we  dream.  And  so  they 
all  finish  in  suffering. 


52  Phases  and  Phrases. 

16. 

Children  console  us  for  all  our  sorrows 
.  .  .  pending  the  fearful  ones  which  they 
shall  not  fail  to  cause  us. 

17- 

The  greatest  thinker  would  be  Death,  if 
it  could  judge  Life. 

18. 

When  events  daily  decrease  in  height, 
history  becomes  a  dwarf  and  passes  into 
biography.  It  is  the  last  resource.  The 
magnifying  glass  is  applied  to  every  man  in 
order  that  he  may  be  seen  bigger  and 
greater. 

19. 

What  strikes  one  to-day  in  reading  cri- 
tiques is  the  praise  that  comes  with  the  blow : 
"Your  work  is  bad,  bad  in  talent  and  mor- 
ality ;  but  you  are  a  witty  writer,  etc. ,  etc. ' ' 
This  balancing  pole  of  cowardice  which 
does  not  want  to  make  enemies  and  wants, 
however,  to  retain  the  privilege  of  frankness, 
is  worn-out,  but  still  used. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  53 

20. 

What  a  delicious  book  to  write,  the  silly 
things  expressed  by  the  greatest  minds  ! 

21. 

The  mortal  envelope  of  the  Middle  Age 
has  disappeared,  but  the  essential  remains. 
Because  the  temporal  disguise  has  fallen,  the 
dupes  of  history  and  of  its  dates  say  that  the 
Middle  Age  is  dead.  Does  one  die  for 
changing  his  shirt  ? 

22. 

If  there  is  in  the  sublime  of  man  three- 
quarters  of  insanity,  there  is  in  his  wisdom 
three-quarters  of  disdain. 

23- 

In  France  everybody  is  an  aristocrat,  for 
everybody  aims  to  be  distinguished  from 
everybody.  The  red  cap  of  the  Jacobins  is 
the  red  heel  of  the  aristocrats  at  the  other 
extremity,  but  it  is  the  same  distinctive  sign. 
Only,  as  they  hated  each  other,  Jacobinism 
placed  on  its  head  what  aristocracy  placed 
under  its  foot. 


54  Phases  and  Phrases, 

24. 

What  Catholicism  actually  lacks,  is  a  Vol- 
taire and  a  Franklin  Catholics,  the  two 
extremes  of  the  bourgeois  mind. 

25- 

Our  reputation  is  the  ball-mask  with  which 
one  goes  into  society;  and  often  is  not 
known  the  good  and  amiable  thing  hidden 
under  the  frightful  blackness  of  the  mask 
others  attach  to  a  face. 

26. 

To  think  of  a  success  in  the  joy  that  it 
gives  to  a  friend,  is  to  drink  one's  nectar  in 
a  golden  cup. 

27. 

In  the  matter  of  literary  form  it  is  the 
thing  poured  in  the  vase  which  makes  the 
beauty  of  the  vase,  otherwise  there  is  nothing 
more  than  a  vessel. 

28. 
I  believe  in  the  rare  only :  great  minds, 


Phases  and  Phrases.  55 

great  characters,  great  men.  What  matters 
the  rest  !  The  greatest  praise  that  may  be 
given  to  a  diamond  is  to  call  it  a  solitaire. 

29. 

Books   must    be   set    against    books,    as 
poisons  against  poisons. 


While  nations  ascend  in  civilization,  gov- 
ernments descend  in  administration. 

31- 

There  is  a  certain  ease  in  awkwardness 
which  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  more  graceful 
than  grace  itself. 

32- 

Proof  of  natural  narrow-mindedness  :  love 
for  narrow-minded  people. 

33- 

When  superior  men  are  mistaken  they 
are  superior  in  that  as  in  all  else.  They  see 
more  falsely  than  small  or  mediocre  minds. 


56  Phases  and  Phrases. 

34- 

To  know  that  one  is  a  force  is  a  consola- 
tion for  many  things,  cruel,  bitter,  broken, 
and  that  are  life.  Self-consciousness  is 
worth  more  than  glory.  It  is  the  purest  and 
best  conceit.  I  know  nothing  similar  to 
soothe  a  destiny. 

35- 

"  We  never  live,  we  await  life  !  "  What 
a  beautiful  line  and  what  a  sad  thing  ! 

36. 

Superior  men  must  necessarily  appear 
wicked.  Where  others  do  not  see  their  im- 
placable eye  perceives  faults,  ridicules  and 
vices. 

37- 

In  things  where  the  heart  is  not,  the  hand 
is  never  powerful. 

38. 

You  shall  see  that  artists  will  shed  tears 
over  the  Orient's  slavery  as  they  have  shed 
tears  over  the  liberty  of  Greece,  and  for  the 


Phases  and  Phrases.  57 

same  reason.     The  picturesque  departs  from 
everywhere. 

39- 

The  Laocoon  of  Virgil !  .  .  .  I  know  one 
more  terrible.  It  is  the  one  smothered  and 
devoured  by  serpents  issued  from  his  own 
heart. 

40. 

When  they  committed  the  indignity  to 
arrest  in  France  the  Pretender  of  England, 
the  Captain  of  the  Guards  charged  with  that 
infamy  knelt  before  the  Prince  and  tried  to 
tie  his  hands,  but  with  twist  of  white  silk. 
Thus  the  materialism  of  the  century  thought 
to  veil  a  shameful  moral  fact. 

41. 

Letters  are  dangerous,  even  for  the  de- 
fense of  liberty. 

42. 

Omar's  saying  is  too  witty  not  to  be  his- 
torical. It  is  not  a  man  of  letters  who  could 
have  found  it. 


5  8  Phases  and  Phrases. 

43- 

The  first  love  is  as  thirsty  for  confidences 
as  for  declarations.  It  is  when  one  is  black 
with  the  thunderstrokes  received  that  one 
buries  his  affections  under  twenty  feet  of 
silence  or  thirty-six  of  pleasantries. 

44- 

If  one  could  put  all  his  ideas  in  one 
word,  it  would  be  the  masterwork.  Who 
knows  but  what  it  would  be  the  masterwork 
in  everything?  Words  are  the  prison  of 
thought.  To  diminish  words,  to  make  that 
wall  fall,  to  enlighten  the  darkness,  this  is 
Art  perhaps  ?  There  shall  be  no  talking  in 
Heaven. 

45- 

If  Judas  were  alive  he  would  be  State 
Minister. 

46. 

ercules  carried  the  Pygmies  in  his  lion's 
I  like  that,  as  gentleness  of  con- 
tempt. But  I  do  not  understand  why  he 
carried  them. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  59 

47- 

Ah  !  if  this  earth  were  more  than  an  inn 
where  one  passed  a  night,  to-morrow  one 
would  have  to  break  the  window-panes  and 
set  fire  to  the  house. 

48. 

Only  the  facts  of  our  life  make  us  think — 
or  the  facts  of  the  lives  of  others.  The  rest 
of  thought  is  philosophy — a  hole  made  with 
a  corkscrew  in  a  cloud. 

49- 

Language  is  in  the  breast  of  our  mothers. 
We  drink  it  with  the  milk.  Language  taken 
elsewhere  than  from  that  sacred  source  is 
only  an  awkwardness,  which  some  persons 
that  are  all  grace  make  attractive  by  talking 
badly. 

So- 

Gambling  is  a  good  thing  for  provincial 
society.  It  is  a  rampart.  It  is  less  inter- 
esting for  self  than  preservatory  against 
others. 


60  Phases  and  Phrases. 


Imagination  does  with  those  that  it  ani- 
mates as  the  bull-fighters  do  in  the  Spanish 
circuses.  It  wounds  with  a  thousand  vari- 
ous darts  ornamented  with  ribbons  of  purple 
and  gold.  It  decks  you,  but  it  tears  you, 
and  the  blood  flows  under  all  these  ribbons. 

52- 

Man  is  so  profoundly  vile  that  he  makes 
acts  which  he  does  not  understand  villain- 
ous, because  in  that  way  he  is  ever  sure  of 
understanding  them. 

53- 

The  Orient  and  Greece  recall  to  my  mind 
the  saying,  so  colored  and  melancholic,  of 
Richter:  "Blue  is  the  color  of  mourning 
in  the  Orient.  That  is  why  the  sky  of 
Greece  is  so  beautiful." 

54- 

Night  is  terribly  fruitful.  Was  it  not  the 
Ancients  who  said  that  Love  nude,  blind 


Phases  and  Phrases.  61 

and  armed,  came  out  of  an  egg  hatched  by 
night  ?  How  frightful  that  is,  beautiful  and 
true ! 

55- 

Men  give  their  measure  by  their  admira- 
tion, and  it  is  by  their  judgments  that  one 
may  judge  them. 

56. 

When  one  has  opinions  that  are  currency, 
I  let  them  circulate. 

57- 

For  Christian  metaphysicians,  Art  is  a 
laughable  effort  of  impotents,  an  embracing 
of  clouds,  nothing  more.  Oh  !  yes,  even 
when  the  Ixion  is  Raffael,  Sebastian  del 
Piombo,  Michael  Angelo.  Let  a  man  be 
slightly  a  Christian  with  an  Ideal,  and  he 
shall  have  a  better  vision  of  the  beautiful  by 
closing  his  eyes  like  Milton  than  by  paint- 
ing, even  by  painting  with  the  divine  brush 
of  Correggio.  And  this  is  no  reason  for  not 
admiring  Correggio. 


62  Phases  and  Phrases. 

58. 

Dedicated  to  friends  who  travel  :  To 
quit  is  to  lack  enough  hooked  atoms  to  stay. 

59- 

Great  thinkers  love  one  another  from 
afar. 

60. 

The  mind  has  white  hairs  a  long  time 
before  the  head,  and  they  are  not  white 
hairs  of  wisdom,  but  of  rage. 

61. 

It  is  the  man  entire  that  is  eloquent. 
The  look  of  a  man  is  a  part  of  his  voice. 


At  present  a  braggart  with  fifty  louis  in 
his  pocket  is  superior  to  Rivarol  at  the 
masked  ball. 

63- 

""The    most    beautiful    destiny  :     to   have 
genius  and  be  obscure. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  63 

64. 

Neither  those  who  love  truth  nor  those 
who  love  beauty  can  care  for  politics  which 
cares  not  for  beauty  nor  for  the  truth. 

65- 

Great  men  unknown.  Old  theme  !  There 
is  better  still :  celebrated  mediocrities  and 
celebrated  fools. 

66. 

There  is  something  better  than  to  have 
portraits  and  medals,  it  is  to  have  none. 
Thus  the  imaginations  of  the  future  shall  be 
made  to  dream ;  one  believes  this  who 
dreams  himself.  But  they,  these  devils  of 
painters,  disconcert  imagination. 

67. 

The  wife  of  Lot  turned  back  and  she  was 
changed  into  a  statue  of  salt  for  having 
turned  back.  Beautiful  symbol !  When 
one  turns  back  in  life  and  looks  into  his 
past,  one  becomes  a  statue  also.  One  is  no 
longer  capable  of  anything. 


64  Phases  and  Phrases. 

68. 
Journals  !     Railways  of  untruth. 

69. 

It  was  Vauvenargues,  the  overpraised 
Vauvenargues,  who  uttered  this  saying  of  a 
professor:  "It  is  not  enough  to  have  fac- 
ulties, it  is  necessary  to  be  economical  with 
them.  That  pleases  the  pedants.  But 
economy  of  faculties  is  penny-wisdom. 
When  one  has  torches,  one  is  not  saving 
candles.  Vauvenargues  economized,  for 
example.  Byron,  not ! 

70. 

Good  subject  for  an  article :  literary 
families.  Every  man  of  talent  having  a 
son  wanting  to  obtain  talent.  Aristocracy 
transposed. 

7i- 

There  are  folks  who  are  simply  vermi- 
celli, like  paste  and  vapid.  They  are 
cooked  in  epigrams  and  it  is  the  men  of  wit 
who  furnish  the  sauce. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  65 

72. 

When  the  Emperor  saw  Goethe  for  the 
first  time,  he  said  to  him  :  "  You  are  a 
man!"  How  did  he  know?  Michelet 
admires  the  phrase.  But  political  phrases 
do  not  count. 

73- 

.....Pride  !  the  most  beautiful  sentiment  of  a 
solitary   man  —  and    man    is    solitary   after 

-  '  ^  * 


twenty-five  years  of  age.     C  ^'  ^  *  l$t  &*& 

74- 

The  lion  does  not  fly  —  he  is  the  great 
prose-writer  ;  the  poet  is  the  eagle  —  he  has 
wings.  But  the  great  poet  prose-writer  is 
the  Lion  of  Saint  Mark,  who  is  a  lion  and 
has  wings  ! 

75- 

Goethe  was  made  of  two  pieces  of  great 
men  —  of  a  great  poet  broken  and  of  a  great 
man  of  science  broken.  Nature  brought  the 
two  pieces  together  ;  but  has  it  done,  in 
uniting  them,  anything  other  than  to  break 
both  pieces  a  little  more? 


66  Phases  and  Phrases. 

76. 

The  immense  folly  of  universal  suffrage 
sanctioned — to  the  shame  of  the  nineteenth 
century  (whereat  our  grandchildren  will 
split  their  sides  with  laughter,  if  they  be  not 
absolute  idiots) — why  should  not  the  women 
vote  as  well  as  the  men?  Are  not  they 
part  of  the  universality  ?  Why  this  in- 
equality in  fact  with  this  equality  in  prin- 
ciple ?  Why,  if  the  valet  vote,  should  not 
the  chambermaid  vote  ? 

77- 

To  be  above  what  one  knows,  a  rare 
occurrence !  Erudition  over,  a  weight ; 
under,  a  pedestal. 

78. 

How  many  who  never  arrive  on  time  in 
life  !  We  are  strangled  between  two  doors, 
one  of  which  is  called,  "Too  early,"  and 
the  other,  "Too  late." 

79- 
The  novels  of  other  times  (of  forty-five 


Phases  and  Phrases.  67 

years  ago)  elevated  life,  and  those  of  the 
present  time  make  it  descend  —  and  they 
call  this  being  nearer  to  the  truth.  It  may 

be-     9 


80. 

Goethe,  I  think,  said  that  a  party  leader 
was  never  more  than  a  corporal.  But  what 
is  a  corporal  who  takes  the  countersign  from 
sentinels  ? 

8f. 

It  is  only  physical  force  that  is  respected. 
Of  force  of  character,  of  talent,  of  expres- 
sion, the  least  said  the  better.  Ah  !  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Germain  !  I  am  sure  that 
Diogenes  was  naturally  a  fair-minded  man 
whom  the  Faubourg  Saint-Germain  of  Athens 
exasperated. 

82. 

"What  is  glory?"  said  somebody  who 
does  a  great  deal  for  glory.  '  '  A  furrow  in 
the  dust." 

"  If  it  be  no  more  than  this,"  objected  a 


68  Phases  and  Phrases. 

lady   who   thought    that    she   was  logical, 

"why  do  you  take  so  much  pains  to  leave 

your  mark  on  that  dust  ?  ' ' 

And  I  heard  this  beautiful  reply : 

"It  is  a  way  of  stamping  it  under  our 

feet." 

S3- 

The  only  thing  feminine  and  hopeful 
which  remained  in  our  Babelic  extrava- 
gance of  corrupted  fashions,  was  the  trail 
with  its  majestic  modesty.  But,  in  its  long 
folds  that  I  loved,  it  has  not  brought  back 
to  us  reserve. 

84. 

Self-love  in  us  should  have  the  most  and 
has  the  least  tact. 

85- 

There  is  nothing  more  beautiful  than 
what  we  see  no  more. 

86. 

0 

When  one  says:  "between  us,"  it  is 
complicity. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  69 

87. 

I  know  nothing  that  demonstrates  the 
emptiness  of  life  better  than  the  death  of 
great  men  and  the  facility  with  which  the 
foolish  world  gets  along  without  them. 

88. 

How  many  metals  make  the  bronze  of 
Corinth  ? 

Insults  on  boards  or  on  paper,  the  spot 
of  ink  or  charcoal  or  mud,  the  dregs  of 
heart,  of  mind  and  of  body,  the  dirt  of  cal- 
umny, all  these,  under  the  sun,  dry,  harden, 
turn  into  bronze  solid  and  brilliant — a  pure 
bronze  which  is  called  glory  ! 

89. 

If  politeness  were  not  made  of  the  finest 
sentiments  of  life — of  charity  and  humility — 
these  Christian  virtues  that  Christianity 
alone  could  evoke — it  resembles  them,  and 
that  is  enough  to  make  it  adorable  ! 

90. 
It  is  not  only  Harpagon  who  puts  out  one 


70  Phases  and  Phrases. 

candle  in  every  two.  Alceste  does  likewise. 
For  what  there  is  in  society,  one  always  sees 
too  much. 

91. 

In  rereading  Ranc6,  I  find  in  Chateau- 
briand a  merit  that  I  had  not  credited  to 
him :  he  makes  one  love  death. 

When  one  is  quite  young,  the  sadness  of 
Chateaubriand  bores,  as  if  one  were  Stend- 
hal ;  but  later  the  charm,  poisoned  as  all 
charms,  of  that  sadness  of  disdain,  is  felt 
and  understood.  Heavens  !  to  make  death 
lovable  is  of  excellent  use  in  life  ! 

92. 

Societies,  these  passing  coquettes,  wear 
gowns  with  trails — and  when  they  have 
passed  and  are  no  longer  seen,  these  trails 
still  drag.  .  .  .  Politeness  and  the  Duel 
are  trails  like  these. 

93- 

Politeness !  Of  what  use  in  a  reasoning, 
utilitarian  century?  It  may  be  relegated 


Phases  and  Phrases.  71 

with  the  dance,  fencing  and  horsemanship, 
these  three  forms  of  the  beautiful  in  motion. 
They  must  fall  in  desuetude  in  an  epoch 
which  has  replaced  them  with  gymnastics, 
even  for  women — the  jockey  method  which 
makes  of  a  man  a  monkey  on  horseback — 
and  fisticuffs,  the  rowdy's  weapon. 

,94- 

Nowadays  there  are  only  good  and  bad 
sentiments  in  opposition,  only  bad  or  good 
dispositions,  and  it  shall  not  be  denied  that 
the  bad  ones  are  in  the  majority.  For- 
merly there  were  as  many  bad  ones  as  now, 
but  they  were  forced  to  wear  the  pink  satin 
mask  of  politeness,  even  if  they  suffered  a 
little  under  it. 

And  it  was  a  boon  that  they  could  suffer. 

But  as  Politeness  was  not  always  deserved, 
a  sister  called  Impertinence  had  been  given 
to  Politeness — a  twin  sister  whose  life,  like 
that  of  certain  children,  was  inseparable 
from  the  life  of  the  other  sister. 

Thus,  when  Politeness  was  killed,  at  the 


72  Phases  and  Phrases. 

same  instant  Impertinence  was  killed,  and 
nothing  remained  to  us  but  Insolence,  silly 
as  a  parvenu,  coarse  as  a  man  not  yet 
arrived. 

Insolence  is  nature  itself !  for  one  may  be 
insolent  in  benevolence  as  in  bad  will,  in 
love  as  in  hatred.  Even  esteem,  that  pon- 
derous sentiment,  may  be  insolent.  "  Take 
back,  sir,  your  insolent  esteem ! ' '  said 
Mirabeau  to  Beaumarchais.  A  man  says  to 
a  woman  that  he  loves  her ;  and  there  is  no 
middle  ground  :  if  he  be  not  a  seducer,  he 
is  insolent. 

What  great  wit  was  necessary  to  overcome 
this  obstacle  of  politeness  and  succeed  in 
being  impertinent !  But  insolent,  every- 
body may  be. 

95- 

I  believed  for  a  long  time  that  this  propo- 
sition was  just :  It  is  well  to  kill  one  in 
order  to  save  three  men. 

I  was  mistaken.  It  is  false  as  modern 
equality,  which  is  equality  of  numbers. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  73 

And,  in  fact,  if  the  man  to  be  killed  be 
Michael  Angelo,  or  Newton,  or  Saint  Vin- 
cent de  Paul,  must  he  be  killed  to  save  three 
fools  ? 

96. 

In  the  time  when  one  was  polite,  one 
could  be  cruel,  textual,  contemptuous  and 
terrible,  as  well,  and  from  the  point  of  view 
of  energy  in  style  and  picturesqueness  in  ex- 
pression, lose  nothing.  Politeness  gave 
even  to  contempt  half  of  itself — the  last 
polish,  which  made  it  the  better  penetrate. 

97- 

They  are  neither  malevolent,  nor  self- 
sufficient,  nor  wilfully  insolent,  these  little 
young  men,  upstarts  who  would  send  to  Bal- 
zac, if  he  lived,  their  first  book  with  this 
inscription  :  ' '  My  dear  co-laborer. ' '  They 
are  good  little  young  men  wanting  tact  and 
shades.  They  lack  politeness,  that  is  all. 

It  seems  odd — but  people  will  become 
accustomed. 


74  Phases  and  Phrases, 

98. 

I  have  already  said  a  great  deal  about 
politeness,  but  I  shall  say  furthermore  this, 
by  which  I  shall  finish. 

It  is  the  best  distance-stick  between  a 
man  and  fools — a  stick  that  saves  one  even 
the  trouble  of  striking  !  To  be  polite  with 
a  fool  is  to  be  isolated  from  him.  What 
good  politics ! 

99- 

Prince  de  Ligne  called  conversation  the 
greatest  charm  of  life,  and  with  good  reason. 
It  is  the  only  thing  for  which  I  would  sacri- 
fice everything. 

Certainly  the  Regent — for  whom  I  feel 
the  greatest  weakness  of  heart,  in  spite  of 
his  vices  that  I  count  on  my  fingers,  and  I 
have  for  him  perhaps  an  eleventh  finger, 
like  Anna  Boleyn — certainly  the  Regent 
was  an  expert  in  pleasures,  for  he  had  tasted 
all  of  them,  and  he  said  : 

"  The  only  thing  worthy  of  the  trouble  of 
living,  the  sensation  which  remains  fresh  as 


Phases  and  Phrases.  75 

the  dawn  when  all  is  faded  of  all  the  dawns 
that  we  have  tasted,  is  the  conversation  of 
a  man  who  knows  how  to  talk. ' ' 

100. 

I  was  flattering  her.  "  You  tell  me  this," 
she  said,  with  eyes  suspicious,  but  so  beauti- 
ful! — "and  it  is  perhaps  the  thousandth 
time  that  you  have  said  it  to  women. ' '  I 
replied :  "  If  I  brought  a  certificate  from  all 
the  women  as  evidence  that  I  never  said  it 
to  them,  you  would  believe  me  then  ?' ' 

She  made  no  answer. 

Her  silence  was  not  enough  womanlike. 
It  would  have  been  more  womanlike  to  re- 
ply :  "  Yes  !  produce  the  certificates  and  I 
will  believe  you,  but  not  before." 

101. 

They  were  talking  of  railways.  I  ven- 
tured my  point  of  view:  "It  is  wrong  to 
destroy  absence.  How  will  man  and 
woman  love  each  other  ?  ' ' 

"  Your  profound  thoughts  are  ever  cruel," 
said  Isaure  de  G. 


76  Phases  and  Phrases. 

"Madam,"  I  replied,  "when  one  bores 
through  thought,  one  always  finds  coldness 
at  a  certain  depth  ;  and  coldness  for  women 
is  cruelty.  '  ' 

102. 

Wherever  women  are  on  the  throne  cor- 
ruption is  in  manners. 

103. 

Friendships  of  women  are  cushions 
wherein  they  stick  their  pins. 

104. 

X    -^  Only   a    woman    can    cure   of    wom 
Only  a  diamond  can  cut  diamond. 


105. 

Women  give  their  measure  by  their  loves. 
Not  we.  We  may  love  below  us  without 
derogation  ;  we  may  elevate  to  us  the  last  of 
women,  but  women  always  fall  to  the  level 
of  the  man  that  they  have  the  misfortune  to 
love. 

106. 
j/   J-havp  no  faith  in   friendship  between 


Phases  and  Phrases.  77 

men  and  women.  The  law  that  rules  hu- 
manity is  Salic;  we  have  no  peeresses. 
The  friendship  of  a  woman  is  virgin  love  or 
widow  love.  It  is  love  before  or  after  love. 

107. 

A  woman  whose  love  one  wants  and  who 
does  not  yet  love  one,  is  only  an  enemy. 

108. 

One  loves  only  beautiful  women;  one 
adores  the  ugly  ones  .  .  .  when  one  loves 
them. 

Do  not  we  sculpt  our  dream  in  the 
flesh  of  all  the  women  that  we  love  ?  Do 
they  exist  otherwise  than  by  us  ?  Are  not 
we  their  Archbishops  of  Rheims,  and  is  not 
our  genius  the  dove  that  brings  to  us  the 
unction  with  which  we  consecrate  them  as 
Queens  of  our  hearts? 

109. 

It  was  well  to  take  green  for  the  color  of 
hope.  It  is  the  color  of  verdigris.  There 
is  no  sentiment  that  oxidizes  more  quickly 
or  poisons  hearts  better. 


78  Phases  and  Phrases. 

no. 

One  is  in  love  much  more  for  the  faults 
of  the  person  loved  than  for  her  qualities, 
because  they  individualize  more.  Beauty 
tends  to  unity,  whereas  ugliness  is  multiple. 

in. 

One  may  pay  for  everything,  settle  every- 
thing, with  love.  One  may  efface  even  the 
misfortune  one  has  caused. 


The  first  love  has  influence  on  the  entire 
life.  One  loves  after,  one  loves  again,  and 
perhaps  one  may  love  more  ;  but  one  wears 
a  sign  in  the  heart,  a  sign  cursed  or  blessed, 
but  which  nothing  can  efface.  The  finger 
of  the  first  woman  loved  is  like  that  of 
God :  the  imprint  of  it  is  eternal.  At 
every  love  that  ends,  at  every  illusion  that 
fades,  at  every  lock  of  hair  cut  from  heads 
of  persons  dead,  one  image  only  passes  in 
the  empty  heart  and  it  seems  ever,  that  one 
was  unfaithful  to  one  only. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  79 

"3- 

Minds  out  of  the  common  understand 
one  another  even  when  they  are  tending 
farther  apart. 

114. 

4  ^hen  a  young  woman  accuses  her  hus- 
band in  confidences  to  her  mother,  it  is 
either  that  she  has  a  mind  without  nobility 
or  that  she  has  ceased  to  love  him. 


To  suffer  when  one  loves  is  sweet  and 
good,  for  it  is  the  happiness  of  martyrdom  ; 
but  to  suffer  for  loving  no  more  is  the  mis- 
fortune of  life  !  A  very  great  evil,  for  one 
may  die  of  love,  and  one  does  not  die  of 
having  ceased  to  love. 

116. 

n  giving  a  name  to  a  child,  one  must 
think  of  the  woman  who  shall  have,  some 
day,  to  pronounce  it.  -J 


117. 
Woman  were  made  to  be  victims.    They 


8o  Phases  and  Phrases. 

are  marked  to  be  thus.  Do  you  know  why  ? 
Lack  of  pride.  Who  are  those  that  they 
will  not  marry,  even  without  money  ?  We 
never  have  wives  like  the  husbands  they 
have. 

118. 

The  first  love-letter  :  the  first  spot  from 
which  all  ermines  must  die. 

119. 

Men  are  judges  of  women.  ;,Hear  them 
after  dinner  !  y5nly,  wMt  errd^!  They 
make  the  manners  of/these  innocent  or 
timorous  beings  with  the  audacity  and  the 
impurity  of  their  minds. 


Co     tMA*~V*  120. 


ost  moralists  appear  to  me  to  be  people 
that  women  maltreated  —  or  who,  at  least, 
have  ceased  to  please  women. 

121. 

It  is  with  women  as  with  nations:   it  is 
necessary  to  be  happy  and  pitiless. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  81 

122. 

One  may  see  the  heart  of  women  through 
the  rents  which  one  may  make  in  their  self- 
love. 

123. 

Supreme  seduction  is  not  to  express  sen- 
timents, but  to  make  them  surmised. 

124. 

When  the  passion  is  intense,  does  one 
notice  that  the  woman  has  a  mind  ?  Riva- 
rol  loved  silly  women.  This  is  the  history 
of  intelligence  in  love. 

125, 

It  is  so  seldom  nowadays  that  a  woman 
has  temperament,  that  when  a  woman  has 
temperament  it  is  called  hysterics. 

126. 

I  have  often  thought  of  Pascal's  question  : 
"  What  do  they  love  in  us  ?  " 

You  are  loved  for  your  handsome  face, 
which  you  did  not  make. 


8a  Phases  and  Phrases. 

I  am  loved  for  my  talent  that  I  have,  at 
least,  developed. 

Dreamers ! 

You  are  loved  because  it  is  said  that  you 
are  handsome. 

And  you  because  you  are  said  to  be  witty 
— or  because  you  pass  for  a  great  artist. 

127. 

All  the  great  women — great  in  their  style, 
as  Charlemagne,  Alexander,  Caesar,  Napo- 
leon in  theirs — the  Ninons,  the  Duchesses 
of  Valentinois,  the  Marchionesses  of  Pes- 
caire,  were  old  without  having  been  young ; 
and  their  contemporaries,  dupes  of  their 
genius,  have  told  us  with  an  air  of  the  most 
comical  good  faith  that  they  were  always  as 
beautiful,  that  they  had  put  the  heels  of 
their  boots  on  the  fearful  monster  of  old 
age.  What  do  they  not  say  ?  Read  them. 
But  no !  do  not  read  them.  The  laws  of 
human  nature  are  not  thus  changeable. 
Nothing  is  so  inexorable  as  white  hair  and 
wrinkles.  Only,  it  is  a  law  also  of  human 


Phases  and  Phrases.  83 

nature  that  the  mind,  the  will,  the  interior 
flame,  have  their  magic,  and  transfigure 
perishable  materialities. 

128. 

It  is  often  a  delicate  manner  of  courting 
women  to  be  in  the  wrong  with  regard  to 
them.  It  creates  for  them  the  superiority 
to  forgive. 

129. 

Ask  of  women  nothing  but  what  they  can 
give.  They  are  sublime  only  when  they 
are  mistaken. 

130. 

they  knew  how,  at  times,  one  avoids 
them  because  one  loves  them  ! 

CLI. 
Paradise  is  to  believe  in  it. 

Catulle  Mendes. 

CLII. 

All  this  matter  is  made  of  thought.  Ah  ! 
if  this  thought  were  made  of  love. 

Eugene  Manuel. 

I*/ 


^— 

OW*«*M    <tW 
___ 


84  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CLIII. 

The   grass   of   ennui    fades   where   duty 
blooms. 

Henri  Chantavoine. 

CLIV. 

Between  the  bother  of  living  and  the  fear 
of  dying. 

Catulle  Mendes. 


CLV. 

is  at  first  only  grass. 

*3  Achille  Paysant. 


CLVI. 

Conscience  has  the  faces  of  our  fathers 
vivid  in  us. 

Jean  Aicard. 

CLVII. 

The  morose  to-day  shall  be  the  sweet  yes- 
terday. 

Catulle  Mendes. 

CLVIII. 

The  true  resistance  of  man  against  catas- 
trophes is  an  augmentation  of  humanity. 
Love  one  another,  aid  one  another.  Soli- 


Phases  and  Phrases.  85 

darity  of  men  is  the  retort  to  complicity  of 
mysterious  facts.  It  is  thus  that  is  estab- 
lished on  earth  the  third  term  of  the  grand 
human  formula:  Fraternity.  Governments 
put  obstacles  in  the  way  of  Liberty  and 
Equality :  they  will  come  in  their  time,  in 
spite  of  the  monarchy ;  Equality  in  spite  of 
the  aristocracy.  But  Fraternity  is  the 
opening  door,  the  emptying  purse,  the  help- 
ing hand.  How  may  this  be  prevented  ? 

Victor  Hugo. 

CLIX. 
Only  musicians  love  music. 

Adolphe  Adam. 

CLX. 

He  has  shared  his  convictions  with  so 
many  persons  that  there  are  none  left  for 
him. 

Pierre  Veron. 

CLXI. 

I  do  not  like  weeping-willows ;  they  bear 
no  fruits  and  they  shade  only  graves. 

Gaspard  Mermillod. 


86  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CLXII. 

Untruth  does  not  endure  contradiction ; 
that  is  the  least  of  its  faults. 

E.  Laboulaye. 

CLXIII. 

One  could  not  make  too  many  recom- 
mendations to  a  fool  to  marry  a  fool. 

Octave  Feuillet. 

CLXIV. 

Ah  !  the  knights  of  the  ideal,  noble  race  ! 
but  with  what  terrible  adversaries  they  have 
to  contend  nowadays,  Self-interest,  Envy, 
Materialism ! 

E.  Caro. 

CLXV. 

A  bald-headed  man  might  be  compared 
to  a  six-story  house.  The  top  is  the  least 

decorated. 

Paul  Siraudin. 

CLXVI. 

The  leaves  in  Croesus's  park  fall  with  a 

murmur  of  bank-bills. 

Edouard  Pailkron. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  87 

CLXVII. 

I  have  often  thought  of  writing  a  book 
on  suffering.  The  peace  of  the  world 
would  be  in  charity,  if  men  could  cure  one 
another  of  the  wounds  that  they  inflict  upon 
themselves  or  that  they  receive  from  heaven 
and  earth.  One  of  the  recollections  of  my 
childhood  is  of  a  fire  that  burned  a  suburb. 
Everybody,  in  that  corner  of  Provence, 
took  a  family  to  his  board.  Secular  hatreds 
disappeared.  There  was  a  week  of  festivals. 

Emile  Zola. 

CLXVIII. 

They  are  and  shall  always  be  scarce, 
those  who  say  to  you  in  time  of  failure: 
"  Bravo  "  and  "  Courage  !  "  One  owes  to 
them  only,  the  resolution  and  the  strength 
never  to  falter  before  the  repeated  blows  of 
cabal  and  injustice. 

Gustave  Dort. 

CLXIX. 
Other  times  other  songs. 

Heinrieh  Heine. 


88  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CLXX. 

If  my  hand  was  full  of  truths  I  would  take 
good  care  not  to  open  it. 

Fontenelle. 

CLXXI. 

I  acted  Napoleon  as  I  would  have  acted 
Achilles. 

Frederick  Lemaitre. 

CLXXII. 

Reality,  it  cannot  be  repeated  too  often, 
varies  with  every  one  of  us. 

Maurice  Barres. 

CLXXIII. 

i     The    trees    are   handsome   as   Kings   in 

mourning. 

Ephraim  Mikhael. 

CLXXIV. 

Cleopatra  is  born  again  incessantly,  eter- 
nal symbol  of  the  weakness  of  man  before 
the  power  of  woman. 

/.  Cantel. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  89 

CLXXV. 

The  thinkers  of  Israel  were  the  first  who 
revolted  against  the  injustice  of  the  world, 
who  refused  to  submit  to  the  inequalities, 
the  abuses,  the  privileges  without  which 
there  is  neither  army  nor  strong  society. 
They  imperilled  the  existence  of  their  little 
nationality,  but  founded  the  religious  edi- 
fice which,  under  the  name  of  Judaism, 
Christianism,  Islamism,  has  served  as  a  shel- 
ter for  humanity  until  the  present  time. 
There  is  in  this  a  lesson  that  modern  peoples 
should  meditate.  The  nations  which  shall 
yield  to  social  questions  shall  perish ;  but  if 
the  future  belong  to  such  questions,  it  shall 
be  beautiful  to  have  died  for  the  cause  des- 
tined to  triumph. 

Ernest  Renan. 

CLXXVI. 

Alas  !  to-day  as  formerly  the  humanitarian 
dream  is  the  enemy,  conscious  or  not,  of 
States  and  of  countries. 

Jules  Lemaltre. 


90  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CLXXVII. 

I  have  always  been  like  a  horse  that  gal- 
lops after  its  shadow. 

Stendhal. 

CLXXVIII. 

e  Court  has  forgotten  you,  sing.  A 
pretty  woman  quits  you  for  one  of  your 
friends,  sing. 

Prince  de  Ligne. 

CLXXIX. 

Sadness  is  the  lot  of  profound  minds  and 
of  strong  intelligences. 

Alexandre  Vinet. 

.CLXXX. 

Our  sadnesses  are  of  the  same  order  as 
our  desires,  since  our  desires  deceived  com- 
pose them,  and  our  desires  are  ourselves. 

Prevost-Paradol. 


CLXXXI. 


/  /    |  Wit  is  the  gift  of  penetrating  things  with- 
out becoming  entangled  in  them. 

Bersot. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  91 

CLXXXH. 

There  are  moments  when  I  like  as  well  a 
great  muddle  as  narrow  precision  ;  I  like  as 
well  great  marshes,  muddy  in  places,  as 
these  two  glasses  of  clear  water  that  French 
genius  throws  in  the  air  with  a  certain  force, 
flattering  itself  that  it  may  rise  as  high  as  the 
nature  of  things. 

Edmond  Scherer. 


CLXXXIII. 

A  marsh  is  good  for  nothing  but  to 
drown  ;  two  glasses  of  water  are  not  the 
ocean,  but  one  may  drink  from  them. 

Henri  Chantavoinc. 


CLXXXIV. 

Criticism  is  not  to  deal  in  praises  or  to 
assail  with  epigrams;  nor  is  it  a  way  of 
satisfying,  by  expressing  them,  our  tastes  or 
our  individual  humor,  but  it  is  a  common 
effort,  a  collaboration  of  critics  and  authors 
toward  certainty  and  truth. 

F.  Brunctiere. 


92  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CLXXXV. 

seems  to  me  that  irony  is  simply  the 
attitude  of  delicate  minds  that  do  not  wish 
to  express  what  they  think,  or  do  not 
know  themselves  what  they  think,  or  think 
nothing. 

Paul  Desjardins. 

CLXXXVI. 

Facts  are  nothing,  but  the  ideas  that  they 
signify,  the  analogies  that  they  evoke,  are 

everything. 

Jean  Moreas. 

CLXXXVII. 
not  to  make  the  Angels  cry. 

Maurice  Bouchor. 


CLXXXVIII. 

I  was  reflecting  upon  the  irreducible  enig- 
that  women  are ;  I  was  saying  to  myself 
that  the  duplicity  of  their  mind  often 
wanted  nothing,  to  make  them  lead  lives  of 
serene  criminals,  but  that  magic  auxiliary : 

a  double  body. 

Marcel  Prevost. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  93 

CLXXXIX. 

There  are  seven  hundred  and  sixty-three 
million  ways  of  regarding  beauty.  You  do 
not  regard  it  as  I ;  I  do  not  regard  it  as 
you;  and  we  are  both  in  the  right. 

Alfred  Delvau. 

cxc. 

I  have  heard  many  men  of  wit  say  that  it 
is  better  to  be  maltreated  by  the  Press  than 
to  suffer  its  silence  or  its  oblivion. 

Rachel. 

cxci. 

Thebaids  were  invented  by  men  for  men. 
Never  shall  a  woman  consent  to  live  in  a 
desert.  The  example  of  Magdalena  may 
perhaps  be  quoted  ;  but  Magdalena  was  not 
alone,  since  she  had  the  souvenir  of  Christ. 

Alfred  Delvau. 

CXCII. 

Do  the  most  delicate  and  complicated  of 
them  know  why  they  act  ?  No  more  than 
a  vane  which  turns  with  the  wind.  An 
imperceptible  breeze  makes  an  arrow  of 


94  Phases  and  Phrases, 

iron,  copper,  tin  or  wood,  turn  on  its  piv- 
ot, in  the  same  way  that  an  imperceptible 
influence  moves  and  impels  to  resolutions 
the  changing  heart  of  women,  be  they  from 
cities,  fields,  villages  or  desert. 

They  may  feel  afterward,  if  they  reason  or 
understand,  why  they  did  this  rather  than 
that ;  but  on  the  moment  they  do  not  know 
why,  for  they  are  the  playthings  of  their 
susceptibility,  the  dazzled  slaves  of  events, 
surroundings,  emotions,  meetings  and  of  all 
the  slight  touches  that  startle  their  mind 
and  flesh. 

Guy  de  Maupassant. 

CXCIII. 

The  future  is  contained  in  the  present  as 
all  the  properties  of  the  triangle  are  con- 
tained in  the  definition. 

Paul  Bourget. 

cxciv. 
It  is  morality  that  judges  metaphysics. 

Ferdinand  Brunetiere. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  95 

cxcv. 
It  is  from  fear  of  tears  that  I  laugh. 

Gabriel  Vicaire. 

cxcvi. 

The  works  that  everybody  admires  are 
those  that  nobody  examines. 

Anatole  France. 

CXCVII. 

I  may  be  bold  in  my  philosophical  specu- 
lations, but  I  have  always  been  extremely 
circumspect  in  my  behavior.  That  is  easily 
understood.  One  is  seldom  prudent  except 
in  one's  passions ;  and  I  never  had  other 
passions  than  of  the  mind. 

Madame  Ackermann. 

CXCVIII. 

All  those  that  struggled  against  the  unjust 
heavens  have  had  the  admiration  and  secret 
love  of  men. 

Alfred  de  Vigny. 

cxcix. 
What    distinguishes   friendship    between 


96  Phases  and  Phrases. 

women  from  friendship  between  men,  is 
that  the  latter  is  impossible  without  absolute 
trust,  whereas  the  former  is  not.  A  woman 
never  believes  implicitly  everything  that  her 
friend  tells  her  and  this  continual  reciprocal 
suspiciousness  does  not  prevent  their  loving 
each  other  tenderly. 

Paul  Bourget. 

cc. 

They  liked  Cleopatra  in  Alexandria  and 
her  statues  were  not  overthrown  after  her 
death.  It  must  be,  therefore,  that  she  was 
less  wicked  than  her  enemies  said.  And 
then  one  must  not  forget  that  beauty  is  one 
of  the  virtues  of  this  world. 

Anatole  France. 

cci. 

I  am  one  for  whom  the  exterior  world 
does  not  exist.  .  .  .  There  is  no  reality  for 
me  but  pure  thought.  Minds  alone  are 
interesting. 

Maurice  Barres. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  97 

ecu. 

I  shall  say  something  which  will  seem 
perhaps  a  barbarous  enormity ;  in  my  view 
the  writers  who  can,  at  a  given  time,  not 
be  like  themselves,  those  for  example,  who 
can  write  a  mystic  piece  after  an  atheistic 
poem,  have  no  soul,  are  only  salaried  enter- 
tainers. 

Pierre  Loti. 

can. 

A  strange  rage  this  modern  mania  to  give 
a  common  manner  to  all  minds  and  to 
destroy  individuality. 

Maurice  Barres. 

cciv. 

Love,  one  may  accuse  and  curse  thee,  but 
it  is  ever  to  thee  that  one  must  ask  for  force 
and  flame. 

Madame  Ackermann. 

ccv. 

When  one  loves,  the  slightest  indications 
serve  as  materials  for  the  worst  suspicions, 


98  Phases  and  Phrases. 

and  the  most  convincing  proofs,  or  proofs 
thus  prejudged,  leave  a  last  place  for  hope. 

Paul  Bourget. 

ccvi. 

Because  she  is  pretty,  because  she  is  quite 
young,  above  all  because  she  is  extraordi- 
narily fresh  and  hearty,  and  I  know  not 
what  in  her  look  attracts  mine,  there  is  a 
charm  suddenly  thrown  on  the  miserable 
inn  where  she  lives :  I  should  almost  like 
to  stay  there ;  I  no  longer  feel  alone ;  a  lan- 
guid ness  comes  to  me,  which  shall  be  for- 
gotten in  an  hour,  but  which  resembles  too 
much,  alas  !  these  things  that  we  call  love, 
tenderness,  affection,  and  that  we  would  like 
to  think  are  grand  and  noble. 

Pierre  Loft. 

ccvu. 

^^My  wife  is  dead.  Well !  I  shall  not  re- 
suscitate her  by  my  tears ;  she  is  well,  she  is 
in  Paradise  for  the  least,  if  not  in  a  better 
place;  she  prays  God  for  us;  she  is  very 
happy ;  she  cares  no  longer  for  our  miseries 


Phases  and  Phrases.  99 

and  calamities.  God  help  those  who  re- 
main. I  must  think  of  finding  another 
wife. 

Francois  Rabelais. 

CCVIII. 

I  came  into  the  world  at  the  foot  of  a 
fig-tree,  a  day  that  the  locusts  were  singing. 

Paul Arene. 

ccix. 

Ignorance,  considered  alone  and  aside 
from  truth  with  which  it  is  so  sweetly  har- 
monious, is  rest  for  our  intelligence ;  it 
makes  us  forget  our  past  evils,  dissimulates 
the  present  ones ;  in  fine  it  is  a  boon,  since 
it  comes  to  us  from  nature. 

Bernardln  de  Saint-Pierre. 

ccx. 

Young  men  in  meetings  put  in  common 
nothing  but  their  mediocrity. 

Maurice  Barres. 

ccxi. 
All  our  dignity  consists  in  thought.    Let 


ioo  Phases  and  Phrases. 

us  labor,  then,  to  think  well.     That  is  the 
principle  of  morality. 

Blaise  Pascal. 

CCXII. 

A  large  part  of  a  woman's  education  de- 
volves on  her  husband;  it  is  for  him  to 
model,  to  form  according  to  his  wishes,  to 
elevate  to  the  dignity  of  his  sentiments  and 
of  his  thoughts,  the  young  heart  and  mind 
that  ask  nothing  but  to  please  him  ;  it  is  at 
once  wise  and  charming  to  add  to  the  ties 
that  bind  a  woman  to  her  husband,  those 
that  unite  the  pupil  to  his  master,  to  his 
preceptor,  to  his  guide,  to  his  friend. 

Octave  Feuillet. 

CCXIII. 

The  moral  world  is  an  immense  garden 
where  bloom  a  thousand  facts  and  every 
man  suffers  or  enjoys  according  to  his  tem- 
perament. Why  should  I  blame  my  neigh- 
bor who  feels  impressions  opposed  to  mine? 
He  calls  vile  good  folks  whom  I  like  a  good 


Phases  and  Phrases.  101 

deal :  that  excites  my  curiosity  in  my  best 
days  and  ordinarily  leaves  me  indifferent. 

Maurice  Barres. 

ccxiv. 

Women  are  at  ease  in  perfidy  as  are  ser- 
pents in  bushes. 

Octave  Feuillet. 

ccxiv. 

We  understand  the  infinite  a  hundred 
times  better  by  the  heart  than  by  the  in- 
telligence. 

Benjamin  Tisseur. 

ccxv. 

L     My  children,  in  marriage  there  is  nothing 
good  but  the  day  before. 

Octave  Feuillet. 

CCXVI. 

What  distinguishes  an  argument  from  a 
play  upon  words,  is  that  the  latter  cannot 
be  translated. 

Maurice  Barres. 


102  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CCXVII. 

There  is  in  all  societies  a  certain  propor- 
tion  of  honest   folks.     Thus   we   are   two 
here,  and  there  is  at  least  one  honest  man. 
Alexandre  Dumas. 

CCXVIII. 

The  heart  gives  wit,  but  wit  does  not  give 
heart. 

Anatole  France. 

CCXIX. 

JS£omen  need  not  be  beautiful  every  day 
of  their  lives ;  it  is  sufficient  that  they  have 
moments  which  one  does  not  forget  and  the 
return  of  which  one  expects. 

Victor  Cherbuliez. 

ccxx. 
Oh !  Jupiter,  what  present  thou  hast  made 

to  us  !     Women  !     What  race  ! 

^Eschylus. 

CCXXI. 

Most  women  are  better  out  of  their  houses 

than  in  them. 

Tacitus. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  103 

ccxxn. 

I  am  not  of  those  who  say :    It  is  nothing, 
it  is  a  woman  drowning. 

Jean  de  La  Fontaine. 

CCXXIII. 

Many  women  would  be  quite  amiable  if 
they  could  forget  that  they  are  amiable. 

Marivaux. 

ccxxiv. 

Marriage  comes  after  love  as  smoke  after 
flame. 

Chamfort. 

ccxxv. 

CxCh"arming  creatures,  tax  me  with  coarse 
sincerity  if  it  do  good  to  your  nerves ;  but 
respect  my  experience;  I  have  made  sad 
use  of  my  time  j  I  have  been  at  your  feet. 

Alexandre  de  Tilly. 

ccxxvi. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  praise  a  woman, 
it  is  to  talk  ill  of  her  rival. 

Delphine  de  Girardin. 


104  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CCXXVII. 

The  more  one  gives  the  more  one  has 

pleasure. 

*  # 

It  is  less  humiliating  to  bore  people  than 
to  amuse  them  too  much. 
•*  •* 
A  fop  is  a  fool  unacquainted  with  himself. 

*  * 

~To  be  politely  impertinent  is  to  roll  a 
pill  in  sugar. 

Princesse  Karadja. 

CCXXVIII. 

A  statesman  is  a  successful  politician  who 
is  dead. 

Thomas  Brackett  Reed. 

ccxxix. 
Woman  is  at  once  apple  and  serpent. 

Heinrich  Heine. 

ccxxx. 
DEFINITIONS  BY  CHARLES  NARREY. 

^Ambassador :  Personage  of  great  import- 
ance that  nations  send  to  one  another  to 
give  balls  and  entangle  public  affairs. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  105 

Friend  :  Man  who  shares  your  good  and 
bad  fortune.  The  good  fortune  especially. 

*  * 
[^^Angel :  The  neighbor's  wife. 

*  # 

Baby :  A  puffed  angel  from  a  ceiling  by 
Boucher,  for  parents ;  a  little  degenerate 
monkey,  for  strangers. 

*  * 

Candidate :  A  man  who  is  humble  to-day 
that  he  may  be  insolent  to-morrow. 

*  * 

Caricature :     Epigram    of    drawing    and 

painting. 

*  * 

^—•Celibacy :   State  of  a  wise  fellow  wearing 
a  dozen  chains,  not  wanting  to  wear  one. 

*  * 

^--Circumstances :  The  man  of  genius  cre- 
ates them,  the  man  of  talent  uses  them,  the 
fool  looks  at  them  without  seeing  them. 

*  * 
Contemporaries :  Good  people  who  would 

like  you  if  you  were  dead. 


io6  Phases  and  Phrases. 

Conversion :  Miraculous  change  from  a 
religion  about  which  one  knows  little  to  a 
religion  about  which  one  knows  nothing. 

*  * 

Curiosity :   Many  persons  call  it  love. 

*  * 

•  Disdain  :  An  injury  that  men  seldom  and 
women  never  forgive. 

*  * 

1    Degenerate :   Verb  used  since  the  creation 
of  the  world  to  indicate  the  progress  of  the 

human  species. 

*  * 

Destiny :  Divinity  that  the  fools  who 
have  no  luck  resuscitate,  in  order  to  make 
her  responsible  for  the  misfortunes  that 
their  silliness  engenders. 

*  * 

Duty :  What  one  is  bound  to  do  and 
would  like  not  to  do  for  the  sole  reason 
that  to  do  it  one  is  bound. 

*  * 

Divan:  Council  of  the  Grand  Turk. 
He  sits  on  it  whenever  the  paying  of  inter- 
est on  his  bonds  is  broached. 


Phases  and  Phrases,  107 

&  '"Economy :  Exquisite  quality  which  may 
exist  among  the  poor  only ;  the  economical 
man  of  wealth  is  an  abominable  miser. 

*  * 

,,  Epitaph :  Inscription  on  a  tombstone  reg- 
ulating the  virtues  and  the  talents  of  the 
dead  by  the  amount  in  dollars  of  their  lega- 
cies. 

*  * 

^Explanation :  Explanation  of  an  obscure 
text  that  most  often  makes  it  more  obscure, 
unless  somebody  explains  the  explanation. 

*  * 

Fop :  A  fool,  glad  to  be  what  he  is. 

*  * 

Fatality :  Cause  of  all  the  faults  commit- 
ted by  women. 

*  * 

Gormand  :  A  brave  man  who  faces  gaily 
apoplexy  and  gout,  calamities  more  serious 
than  war  and  the  plague. 

*  * 
Hieroglyphics :    Symbolical   figures   that 

learned  men  do  not  understand,  but  that 


io8  Phases  and  Phrases. 

they  explain  before  people  whom  they  know 
to  be  as  ignorant  as  themselves. 

*  * 

Historian :  A  grave  novelist.     I  have  not 

said :  serious. 

*  * 

(.  Hospitality:  Regarded  as  a  sacred  duty 
by  the  savages  of  America  until  the  invasion 
of  European  manners.  Still  practised  by 
Scotchmen  in  comic  operas. 

*  * 

Ignorant :  Faculty  of  one  who  knows 
nothing ;  who  knows  badly  what  he  knows, 
or  knows  something  other  than  what  he 

should  know. 

*  * 

Imbecile :   A  fool  who  thinks  that  he  is 

witty. 

*  * 

Importance :  The  grandeur  of  fools. 

*  * 
l^ndigestion  :   Death  on  the  field  of  honor 

for  a  gastronomer. 

*  * 

L Inventor :  A  good  man  laboring  to  obtain 

wealth  for  others.      *">**»£ 


Phases  and  Phrases,  109 

*-— Jealous :  A  poor  man  looking  for  a  clue 
which  he  hopes  not  to  find. 

*  * 

Legend:  Untruth  often  truer  than  his- 
tory. 

*  * 

Livery:  Colored  coat  which  masters 
make  their  servants  wear  to  avoid  mistakes 

of  identity. 

*  * 

Luxury :  Exasperates  the  workingman, 
and  makes  him  earn  a  living. 

*  * 

£^— Merchant :  Man  who  makes  a  large  for- 
tune by  regularly  losing  a  round  sum  on 
every  object  that  he  sells. 

*  * 

Medallion  :  A  gold  box  wherein  one  puts 
the  portrait  that  one  gives  to  a  beloved 
woman.  When  there  are  diamonds  around 
the  jewel  the  portrait  is  more  valuable. 

*  * 

Medicine  :  Art  of  correctly  curing.  If  a 
man  were  cured  of  a  cruel  malady  by  reme- 


no  Phases  and  Phrases. 

dies  of  old  women  or  charlatans,  all  the 
vials  of  the  Faculty's  indignation  should 
fall  on  his  head. 

*  * 

Mien :  One  with  the  mien  of  an  honest 
man  may  be  a  rascal,  but  one  with  the  mien 
of  a  rascal  is  seldom  an  honest  man. 

*  * 

*  No :  When  a  woman  smiles  in  saying 
"no,"  it  means  "yes." 

*  * 

Obey :  Willingly  a  woman  obeys  her 
husband,  for  she  does  not  allow  him  to 
have  any  other  will  than  her  own. 

*  * 

Operetta :  Music  of  cadence  and  of  deca- 
dence. 

*  * 

Orator :  A  man  who  talks  for  his  pleasure. 

*  * 
Parsimony :  Avarice  of  the  poor. 

*  * 

Parvenu :  A  man  smart  enough  to  make 


Phases  and  Phrases.  in 

a  fortune  and  not  witty  enough  to  make  his 
happiness  forgiven. 

*  * 

Patience :  Virtue  which  makes  one  bear 
with  resignation  the  blows  of  fate  and  even 
the  blows  coming  from  elsewhere.  Q.  never 
admired  that  virtue,  save  in  the  saints  of 
stone  that  remain  for  centuries  at  the  door 
of  cathedrals,  exposed  to  all  storms,  without 
quitting  their  beatific  smileN 

*  * 

..-Politeness:  The  art  of  saying  in  an  ex- 
quisite manner  the  reverse  of  what   one 

thinks. 

*  * 

Polygamy :  The  height  of  fatuity. 

*  * 

Prodigal :  My  old  preceptor  always  said 
that  the  prodigal  was  a  man  who  lighted  his 
lamp  at  noon  and  had  no  more  oil  when 

night  came. 

*  * 

Rhetoric :  The  art  of  saying  airy  noth- 
ings with  a  certain  elegance. 


ii2  Phases  and  Phrases. 

Riches :  Tariff  of  consideration. 

*  * 

Senator :  Eclectic  personage  who  finds 
the  same  thing  good  and  bad  according  to 
the  official  situation  of  his  party. 

*  * 

Sublime :  A  beautiful  thought  simply  ex- 
pressed. 

*  * 

Tact :  The  most  indescribable  of  qualities. 
You  have  tact,  nobody  notices  it ;  you  lack 
tact,  it  is  remarked  by  everybody. 

*  * 

Translator :  A  man  who  translates  seldom 
well  the  author's  text  and  always  badly  his 

thought. 

*  * 

Usury  :  An  agreement  between  necessity 

and  avarice. 

*  * 

Vengeance :  Sometimes  a  pleasure,  always 

a  bad  deed. 

*  * 

:  One  who  has  done  time  in  jail. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  113 

_____  -X  :  The  unknown  ;  what  women  love  the 
most. 

*  * 

Youth:  A  boon  appreciated  in  old  age 

only.     jd^J^CXl1  t^0v^4Xf     U^-ty 

*  * 

Zeal:  An  excessive  desire  to  do  well 
which  one  finds  in  those  that  have  more 
good-will  than  tact. 

Example  : 

Monsieur  enters;  Antoine,  his  valet, 
hands  to  him  gloves  wrapped  in  a  piece  of 
newspaper  and  says  : 

'  '  Monsieur,  here  are  gloves  which  I 
found  in  your  overcoat  pocket.  As  I  knew 
that  you  did  not  wear  twelve  button  gloves 
I  took  them  to  Madame,  and  Madame  threw 
them  out  of  the  window,  but  I  picked  them 


up.       _ 

Y  U 

CCXXXI. 

I  do  not  know  what  morality  in  art  is. 

Francisquc  Sarcey. 


ii4  Phases  and  Phrases. 

ccxxxn. 

ON  EARTH. 

Ever  on  earth  the  flowers  have  died, 

And  short  is  every  song-bird's  lay; 
I  dream  of  summers  that  abide 
Alway. 

Ever  on  earth  lips  greet  and  glide 

Nor  let  their  velvet  softness  stay ; 
I  dream  of  kisses  that  abide 
Alway. 

Ever  on  earth  have  mortals  sighed 

O'er  loves  and  friendships  turned  to  clay; 
I  dream  of  unions  that  abide 
Alway. 

Sully-Prudhomme. 

CCXXXIII. 

Have  genius  !     In  art,  talent  is  nothing. 
Theodore  de  Banville. 

ccxxxiv. 
The  heart  of  a  man  is  ageless. 

Alfred  de  Musset. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  115 

ccxxxv. 
The  heart  has  no  wrinkles. 

Fenelon. 

ccxxxvi. 

Love  life,  but  love  it  not  for  vulgar 
pleasures,  for  miserable  ambitions.  Love 
it  for  what  in  it  is  important,  grand,  divine. 

Silvio  Pellico. 

CCXXXVII. 

Recollection  makes  one  pensive ;  anxiety, 
dreamy. 

Jean-Jacques  Rousseau. 

ccxxxvni. 

Beware  of  worrying  about  little  things ;  it 
is  the  malady  of  happy  people. 

Mme.  Necker. 

ccxxxix. 

Our  passions  and  our  necessities  are  our 
real  tyrants.  One  should  always  be  simple 
and  virtuous,  even  if  only  for  love  of  inde- 
pendence. 

Mme.  Ackermann. 


n6  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CCXL. 

In  fine,  there  is  nothing  in  life  except 
what  we  put  in  it. 

Mme.  Schwetchine. 

CCXLI. 

Do  not   take   upon    yourself  a   load   of 
hatred ;  it  is  a  heavier  load  than  you  think. 

Mme.  de  Sevigne. 

CCXLII. 
One  must  deserve  and  avoid  praise. 

Fenelon. 

CCXLIII. 

A  little  of  everything,  nothing  quite  to 
one's  wish — the  way  to  be  moderate,  wise 

and  content. 

Joubert. 

CCXLIV. 

If  one  must  go  to  an  extreme  of  defect- 
iveness  let  the  fault  be  softness. 

Francois  de  Sales. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  117 

CCXLV. 

In  a  book  the  mind  talks ;  in  the  face  the 
mind  shows  itself. 

V.  Duruy. 

CCXLVI. 

One  is  almost  always  mistaken  who  sees 
malice  in  everything. 

Voltaire. 

CCXLVII. 
One  must  have  a  soul  to  have  taste. 

Vauvenargues. 

CCXLVIII. 

The  critic  is  the  man  who  knows   and 
teaches  others  how  to  read. 

Sainte-Beuve. 

CCXLIX. 

One  must  make  himself  liked,  for  men 
are  just  only  with  those  that  they  like. 

Joubert. 

CCL. 

There  are  men  who  to  be  faultless  lack 


n8  Phases  and  Phrases. 

nothing  except  not  to  think  that  they  are 
perfect. 

Prince  de  Ligne. 

CCLI. 

It  is  tempting  God  to  love  pain. 

Alfred  de  Musset. 

CCLII. 

Think  of  the  ills  whereof  you  are  free. 

Joubert. 

CCLIII. 

Distrustfulness,  too,  has  its  dupes. 

Mme.  Swetchine. 

CCLIV. 

Virtue  by  policy  is  virtue  of  vice. 

Sully- Prudhomme. 

CCLV. 

Without  dew  and  light  flowers  fade. 
Charity  and  love  are  the  dew  and  light  of 
the  human  heart. 

Mme.  de  Gentis. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  119 

CCLVI. 

Self-love  makes  us  blind.  It  is  the 
greatest  of  flatterers. 

La  Rochefoucauld. 

CCLVII. 

Let  us  be  kind,  if  we  wish  to  be  regretted. 

Pierre  Loti. 

CCLVIII. 

— ¥oung  men,  do  not  picture  the  world  to 
yourselves  too  handsomely,  for  fear  that  you 
may  lack  courage  when  you  see  it  as  it  is. 

Ernest  Lavissc. 

CCLIX. 

Exterior  signs  of  great  afflictions  are  for 
the  living  as  mausoleums  are  for  the  dead  ; 
they  often  attest  more  conceit  than  sorrow 
or  virtue. 

Chateaubriand. 

CCLX. 

A  society  without  prejudices  makes  a 
world  without  scruples. 

De  Bonald. 


i2o  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CCLXI. 

From  women  who  have  no  faith  or  who 
fear  to  be  too  faithful,  God  deliver  me. 

Xavier  Marmier. 

I  CCLXII. 

How  corrupted  the  heart  of  man  is,  to  be 
capable  of  the  sublime  sacrifices  that  friend- 
ship exacts. 

Alfred  de  Vigny. 

CCLXIII. 

Those  who  have  not  suffered  together  do 
not  know  the  most  powerful  heart-ties. 

Alexandre  Dumas. 

CCLXIV. 

Oh !  poverty,  thou  art  a  severe  teacher. 
But  at  thy  noble  school  I  have  received 
more  precious  lessons,  I  have  learned  more 
great  truths  than  I  shall  ever  find  in  the 
spheres  of  wealth. 

Jean-Jacques  Rousseau. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  121 

CCLXV. 

Liberty  is  the  right  to  meddle  with  the 
affairs  of  others. 

Abbe  Galiani. 

CCLXVI. 

I — 'Every  time  that  a  fool  wants  to  become 
wicked  he  must  meet  a  wicked  man  who  is 
looking  for  a  fool. 

Beaumarchais. 

CCLXVII. 

Modesty  should  be  in  a  middle-ground 
between  vanity  and  humility ;  but  it  is  often 
nearer  one  than  the  other. 

Legouve. 

CCLXVIII. 

There  is  nothing  so  trifling  as  to  be  with- 
out effect. 

Montesquieu. 

CCLXIX. 

Affability  cannot  be  taught ;  it  is  a  nat- 
ural expression  of  the  heart. 

Mme.  de  Caylus. 


122  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CCLXX. 

When  women  cease  to  be   natural  they 
cease  to  be  affable. 

Legouve. 

CCLXXI. 

It  is  imitating  somebody  to  plant  cabbage. 
Alfred  de  Musset. 

CCLXXII. 

The  man  who  is  seldom  mistaken  about 
others  is  often  mistaken  about  himself. 

Duclos. 
CCLXXIII. 

Mediocre     minds     ordinarily    condemn 

everything  that  passes  their  comprehension. 

La  Rochefoucauld. 

CCLXXIV. 

One  who  talks  without  thinking  resembles 
a  hunter  who  shoots  without  aiming. 

Montesquieu. 

CCLXXV. 

Virtue   glories    in   persecution  as  a  flag 
glories  in  its  rags. 

F.  Mistral. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  123 

CCLXXVI. 

ask  a  favor  a  man  says  to  himself, 
"What  shall  I  say?"  a  woman  meditates, 
"What  shall  I  wear?" 

Metternich. 

CCLXXVII. 

Life,  which  we  find  too  short,  is  made  of 
many  days  which  we  find  too  long. 

Octave  Feuillet. 

CCLXXVIII. 

There  is  a  sort  of  hatred  which  is  never 
extinguished :  it  is  the  hatred  that  superi- 
ority inspires  in  mediocrity. 

Paul  Bourget. 

CCLXXIX. 

To  be  without  enemies  is  to  be  unworthy 
of  having  friends. 

Joubert. 

CCLXXX. 

Too  much  wisdom  is  harmful  to  mediocre 
minds  ;  a  little  folly  suits  them  better. 

Jean-Jacques  Rousseau. 


124  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CCLXXXI. 

When  conceit  marches  in  front,  shame 
and  damage  walk  behind. 

Louis  XI. 

CCLXXXII. 

/  Every  man  has  three  temperaments :  the 
one  he  has,  the  one  he  shows  and  the  one 
he  thinks  he  has. 

Alphonse  Karr. 

CCLXXXIII. 

If  people  of  wit  could  not  use  fools,  what 
would  be  the  use  of  their  wit  ? 

Ernest  Renan. 

CCLXXXIV. 
One  who   runs   after  wit  often   catches 

silliness. 

Montesquieu. 

CCLXXXV. 

Nothing  is  more  unbearable  than  the 
man  who  is  never  in  the  wrong,  unless  it  be 
the  man  who  thinks  he  is  always  in  the 
right. 

Honore  de  Balzac. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  125 

CCLXXXVI. 

Beware  of  those  who  talk  of  their  dinners, 
who  boast  of  their  wines :  it  is  the  conceit 
of  Diogenes  which  appears  through  the  rents 
of  his  cloak. 

Alphonse  Daudet. 

CCLXXXVII. 

In  reality  history  is  of  no  avail.  Human- 
ity is  caught  every  day  with  traps  that  have 
served  before. 

Jules  Simon. 

CCLXXXVIII. 

Probity  is  the  virtue  of  the  poor ;  virtue 
should  be  the  probity  of  the  rich. 

Diderot. 

CCLXXXIX. 

The  art  of  the  philosopher  is  to  direct,  of 
the  ambitious  to  follow,  opinion. 

Camille  Desmoulins. 

ccxc. 
In  the  course  of  life,  how  many  persons 


126  Phases  and  Phrases. 

stop  on  their  way  and  fail  because,  like 
Atalanta,  they  let  the  gold  apples  seduce 
them  ! 

Honore  de  Balzac. 

ccxci. 

The  one  who  thinks  he  is  smarter  than 
all  others,  is  almost  always  the  most  easily 
duped. 

Octave  Mirbeau. 

CCXCI  I. 

The  heart  of  a  man  without  discretion  is 
an  open  book  where  everybody  may  read. 
Sully- Prudhotiime. 

CCXCIII. 

There  are  very  honest  people  who  do  not 
think  that  they  have  had  a  bargain  unless 
they  have  cheated  the  merchant. 

Anatole  France. 

ccxciv. 

In  this  world,  one  must  be  a  little  too 
kind  to  be  kind  enough. 

Marivaux. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  127 

ccxcv. 

Fine  wit  is  often  false,  precisely  because 
it  is  fine. 

Paul  Bourget. 

ccxcvi. 

The  world  is  possessed  by  money,  but  it 
is  led  by  imagination  and  by  the  heart. 

Melchior  de  Vogue. 

ccxcvn. 

The  surest  way  to  get  rid  of  a  bore  is  to 
lend  money  to  him. 

Paul  Louis  Courier. 

CCXCVIII. 

How  many  persons  would  be  devout  if 
impiety  were  made  ridiculous  ! 

Joseph  de  Maistre. 

ccxcix. 

The  universe  is  a  sort  of  book  only  the 
first  page  of  which  has  been  read  by  those 
who  have  seen  no  other  country  but  their 
own. 

Stendhal. 


128  Phases  and  Phrases. 

ccc. 

The  man  of  brains  sees  difficulties,  sur- 
mounts or  avoids  them ;  the  fool  knows  no 
difficulties. 

La  Bruyere. 

ccci. 

The  desire  to  appear  skillful  is  often  a  bar 
to  becoming  skillful. 

La  Rochefoucauld. 

CCCII. 

Even  when  officious,  untruth  is  repugnant 
to  delicate  minds. 

Ibsen. 

CCCIII. 

To  appreh  contempt  is  to  have  de- 
served it  already. 

Pierre  Loti. 

ccciv. 

To  cull  abundantly  from  the  field  of  va- 
riety is  to  reap  in  the  domains  of  pleasure. 

Le  Sage. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  129 

cccv. 

Good  maxims  are  germs  of  all  good ; 
firmly  impressed  on  the  memory  they  nour- 
ish the  will. 

Joubert. 

CCCVI. 

To  love  is  to  find  pleasure  in  the  happi- 
ness of  the  person  loved. 

Leibnitz. 

CCCVII. 

Love  is  I  know  not  what,  which  comes 
from  I  know  not  where  and  which  finishes 
I  know  not  how. 

Scudery. 

CCCVIII. 

Love  is  the  poetry  of  the  senses. 

Balzac. 

CCCIX. 

Love  is  selfishness  in  two  persons. 

Boufflers. 

cccx. 
Love  is  to  be  two  and  only  one ;  a  man 


130  Phases  and  Phrases. 

and  a  woman  that  are  melted  into  an  angel  : 
it  is  Heaven. 

Victor  Hugo. 


p. 

v^^^Marriae  i 


CCCXI. 

s  a  science. 

Honore  de  Balzac. 


CCCXII. 

What  speech  of  a  man  may  act  like  the 
silence  of  a  woman  ? 

Jules  Michelet. 

CCCXIII. 

Beauty  without  grace  is  a  hook  without 
bait. 

Ninon  de  Lenclos. 

cccxiv. 

Such  is  the  measure  of  love  that  none  in 
it  should  keep  his  reason. 

Marie  de  France. 

cccxv. 
Apollo's  children  are  ever  unfortunate. 

Jean  Vatel. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  131 

cccxvi. 

Many    thorns,    Love,    accompany    thy 
roses ! 

Malherbe. 

cccxvu. 

There  is  something  of  one's  soul  in  one's 
voice. 

Henri  Lavedan. 

CCCXVIII. 

One's  country  is  the  earth,  the  universe. 
Gustave  Flaubert. 


CCCXIX. 

The  happiest  nations  are  the  poor  na- 
tions,  because  they  are  the  most  virtuous^/    Q 

Cand  there  is  only  one  way  to  happiness 
earth,  the  way  of  virtue. 

Stindhal. 

cccxx. 

Everything    may    be    demonstrated    by 
reasoning,  except  the  things  which  we  feel 

are  veritable. 

Maurice  Barres. 


132  Phases  and  Phrases. 

cccxxi. 

It  is  not  susceptibility  that  governs  the 
world. 

Ferdinand  Brunetiere. 


cccxxn. 

The  only  true  happiness  for  a  woman  in 
a  nappy  marriage. 


CCCXXIII. 

The  most  reasonable  women  have  hours 
wherein  to  be  unreasonable. 

Victor  Cherbuliez. 

cccxxiv. 

Every  abridgment  of  a  good  book  is  a 
foolish  abridgment. 

Montaigne. 

cccxxv. 

Reputation  is  such  a  thing  that  it  keeps 
many  men  in  awe,  even  amongst  civilized 
nations,  and  is  very  much  stood  upon. 

Thomas  Morton. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  133 

cccxxvi. 

I  saw  the  Vanity  of  Honor,  and  there- 
fore, why  should  I  be  troubled  for  the  loss 
of  it  by  the  want  of  enlargements. 

Thomas  Shepard. 

cccxxvu. 

The  blackamoor's  darkness  differs  not  in 
the  dark  from  the  fairest  white. 

Roger  Williams. 

cccxxvm. 

The  finest  bread  has  the  least  bran ;  the 
purest  honey,  the  least  wax ;  and  the  sin- 
cerest  Christian,  the  least  self-love. 

Anne  Bradstreet. 

cccxxix. 
There  is  no  certainty  of  anything  in  this  / 

world.    <\xi-^U^,  ieJL&t*    >v>J«f»**£*M*~  * 
Jonathan  Mitchell. 

cccxxx. 

No  man  is  made  only  for  himself  and  his 
own  private  affairs,  but  to  serve,  profit  and 
benefit  others. 

Benjamin  Colman. 


134  Phases  and  Phrases. 

cccxxxi. 
A  word  to  the  wise  is  enough. 

*  * 
God  help|  them  that  help  themselves. 


Sloth,  like  rust,  consumes  faster  than 
labor  wears;  while  the  used  key  is  always 

bright. 

*  * 

But  dost  thou  love  life,  then  do  not 
squander  time,  for  that  is  the  stuff  life  is 

made  of. 

*  * 

The  sleeping  fox  catches  no  poultry. 

*  * 

There  will  be  sleeping  enough  in  the  grave. 

*  * 

If  time  be  of  all  things  the  most  precious, 
wasting  time  must  be  the  greatest  prodigality. 

*  * 

Lost  time  is  never  found  again;  and 
what  we  call  time  enough,  always  proves 
little  enough. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  135 

Sloth  makes  all  things  difficult,  but  in- 
dustry all  easy, 

*  * 

He  that  riseth  late  must  trot  all  day  and 
shall  scarce  overtake  his  business  at  night.  *P 

*  * 

Laziness  travels  so  slowly  that  Poverty 
soon  overtakes  him. 

*  * 

Drive   thy  business,  let   not    that   drive 

thee. 

*  * 

Early  to  bed  and  early  to  rise,  makes  a 
man  healthy,  wealthy  and  wise. 

*  * 

Employ  thy  time  well  if  thou  meanest  to 
gain  leisure ;  and  since  thou  art  not  sure  of 
a  minute,  throw  not  away  an  hour. 

*  * 

A  life  of  leisure  and  a  life  of  laziness  are 

two  things. 

*  * 

Fly  pleasures  and  they  will  follow  you. 


136  Phases  and  Phrases. 

Three  removes  are  as  bad  as  a  fire. 

*  * 

Keep  thy  shop  and  thy  shop  will  keep 

thee. 

*  * 

If  you  would  have  your  business  done, 

go ;  if  not,  send. 

*  * 

The  eye  of  a  master  will  do  more  work 
than  both  his  hands. 

*  * 

Want  of  care  does  us  more  harm  than 
want  of  knowledge. 

*  * 

Not  to  oversee  workmen  is  to  leave  them 
your  purse  open. 

*  * 

In  the  affairs  of  this  world  men  are  saved, 
not  by  faith,  but  by  the  want  of  it. 

*  * 

If  you  would  have  a  faithful  servant,  and 
one  that  you  like,  serve  yourself. 

*  * 

A  fat  kitchen  makes  a  lean  will. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  137 

What  maintains  one  vice  would  bring  up 
two  children. 

*  * 

If  you  would  know  the  value  of  money 
go  and  try  to  borrow  some ;  for  he  that  goes 
a  borrowing  goes  a  sorrowing. 

*  * 

Pride  is  as  loud  a  beggar  as  want,  and  a 
great  deal  more  saucy. 

*  * 

It  is  easier  to  suppress  the  first  desire 
than  to  satisfy  all  that  follow  it. 

*  * 

Pride  breakfasted  with  Plenty,  dined  with 
Poverty  and  supped  with  Infamy. 

*  * 
(____^JBxperience  keeps  a  dear  school  but  fools 

will  learn  in  no  other. 

*  * 

If  you  will  not  hear  Reason,  she  will 
surely  rap  your  knuckles. 

*  * 

No  power,  how  great  soever,  can  force 
men  to  change  their  opinions. 


138  Phases  and  Phrases. 

Don't  give  too  much  for  the  whistle. 

Benjamin  Franklin. 

CCCXXXII. 

What  we  obtain  too  cheap  we  esteem  too 
lightly;  'tis  dearness  only  that  gives  every- 
thing its  value. 

Thomas  Paine. 

CCCXXXIII. 

Give  up  money,  give  up  fame,  give  up 
science,  give  the  earth  itself  and  all  it  con- 
tains, rather  than  do  an  immoral  act. 

Thomas  Jefferson. 

cccxxxiv. 

trmnt  secluding  yourself  from  the  other 
sex,  let  it  occupy  but  a  small  portion  of 
your  time. 

Timothy  Pickering. 

cccxxxv. 

bout  the  only  person  we  ever  heard  of 
that  wasn't  spoiled  by  being  lionized,  was  a 
Jew  named  Daniel. 

George  Denison  Prentice. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  139 

cccxxxvi. 

To  go  into  solitude,  a  man  needs  to  re- 
tire as  much  from  his  chamber  as  from 
society. 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 

CCCXXXVII. 

The  yeoman  and  the  scholar — the  yeo- 
man the  man  of  finest  moral  culture,  though 
not  the  man  of  sturdiest  sense  and  integ- 
rity— are  two  distinct  individuals,  and  can 
never  be  melted  or  wedded  into  one  sub- 
stance. 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne. 

CCCXXXVIII. 

To  appreciate  thoroughly  the  work  of 
what  we  call  genius,  is  to  possess  all  the 
genius  by  which  the  work  was  produced. 

Edgar  Allan  Poe. 

cccxxxix. 
Life  is  a  count  of  losses  every  year. 

Albert  Pike. 


140  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CCCXL. 
Life  is  a  dream, 

Calderon. 

CCCXLI. 

My  dear  friends,  let  us  tell  tales.  While 
we  are  telling  tales,  the  tale  of  life  ap- 
proaches its  end  and  we  are  happy. 

Denis  Diderot. 

CCCXLII. 

How  happy,  how  rich,  how  honored,  how 
talented,  how  healthy,  soever  you  may  be, 
remember  that  you  must  die  and  abandon 
all. 

Philip  Neri. 

CCCXLIII. 

Speak,  if  you  have  something  to  say  which 
is  better  than  silence. 

Gregory  Nazianzen. 

CCCXLIV. 
Do  you  wish  to  be  absolved  ?     Love. 

Peter  Chrysologus. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  141 

CCCXLV. 

In  temptations  against  purity,  the  victori- 
ous are  the  timorous  who  take  to  flight. 

Philip  Neri. 

CCCXLVI. 

He  who  denies  self-evident  truths  cannot 
be  reasoned  with. 

Epictetus. 

CCCXLVII. 

Is  life  worth  living?  I  should  say  that 
it  depended  on  the  liver. 

Thomas  Gold  Appleton. 

CCCXLVIII  . 

self-made  man?     Yes — and  worships 
his  creator. 

Henry  Clapp. 

CCCXLIX. 

When  men  begin  their  prayers  with  "  O 
thou  omnipotent,  omniscient,  omnipresent, 
all-seeing,  ever-living,  blessed  Potentate, 
Lord  God  Jehovah !  "  I  should  think  they 


142  Phases  and  Phrases. 

would  take  breath.  Think  of  a  man  in  his 
family,  hurried  for  his  breakfast,  praying  in 
such  a  strain  !  He  has  a  note  coming  due, 
and  it  is  going  to  be  paid  to-day,  and  he 
feels  buoyant;  and  he  goes  down  on  his 
knees  like  a  cricket  on  the  hearth  and  piles 
up  these  majestically  moving  phrases  about 
God.  Then  he  goes  on  to  say  that  he  is  a 
sinner :  he  is  proud  to  say  that  he  is  a  sin- 
ner. Then  he  asks  for  his  daily  bread.  He 
has  it ;  and  he  can  always  ask  for  it  when 
he  has  it.  Then  he  jumps  up  and  goes  over 
to  the  city.  He  comes  back  at  night  and 
goes  through  a  similar  wordy  form  of ' '  even- 
ing prayers ;  "  and  he  is  called  "  a  praying 
man  !  "  A  praying  man?  I  might  as  well 
call  myself  an  ornithologist  because  I  eat  a 
chicken  once  in  a  while  for  my  dinner. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

CCCL. 

We  are  columns  left  alone,  of  a  temple 
once  complete. 

Christopher  Pearce  Cranch. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  143 

CCCLI. 

We  shall  come  to  an  end  some  day, 
though  we  may  never  live  to  see  it. 

Benjamin  Penhallow  Shillaber. 

CCCLII. 

Yes,  faith  is  a  goodly  anchor. 

James  Russell  Lowell. 

CCCLIII. 

Labor,  calling,  profession,  scholarship  and 
artificial  and  arbitrary  distinctions  of  all 
sorts,  are  incidents  and  accidents  of  life,  and 
pass  away.  It  is  only  manhood  that  re- 
mains and  it  is  only  by  manhood  that  man 
is  to  be  measured. 

Josiah  Gilbert  Holland. 

CCCLIV. 
Consider  the  lilies. 

Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson. 

CCCLV. 

There  are  gains  for  all  our  losses,  there 
are  balms  for  all  our  pain. 

Richard  Henry  Stoddard. 


144  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CCCLVI. 

The  grace  of  culture  is,  in  its  way,  a  fine 
thing,  but  the  best  that  art  can  do — the 
polish  of  a  gentleman — is  hardly  equal  to 
the  best  that  Nature  can  do  in  her  higher 
moods. 

Mary  Noailles  Murfrec. 

CCCLVII. 

To  be  really  cosmopolitan,  a  man  must  be 
at  home  even  in  his  own  country. 

Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson. 

CCCLVIII. 

Who,  alas  !  can  love  and  then  be  wise  ! 

Byron. 

CCCLIX. 

Jupiter  himself  cannot  love  and  be  wise. 

Seneca. 

CCCLX. 

is  better  to  be  too  bold  than  not  bold 
enough. 

Machiavelli. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  145 

CCCLXI. 

Learning  without  politeness  makes  a  dis- 
agreeable pedant,  and  politeness  without 
learning  makes  a  superficial,  frivolous  puppy. 

Chesterfield. 
CCCLXII. 

He  gives  a  double  benefit  to  the  needy 
who  gives  quickly. 

Publius  Syrus. 

CCCLXIII. 

It  is  said,  "  The  woman  who  deliberates 
is  lost."  The  truth  is,  women  are  lost 
because  they  do  not  deliberate. 

Amelia  E.  Barr. 

CCCLXIV. 

Genius  creates,  taste  preserves.  Taste  is 
the  good  sense  of  genius.  Without  taste, 
genius  is  only  a  sublime  madness. 

Chateaubriand. 

CCCLXV. 

We  must  dare,  and  again  dare,  and  for- 
ever dare. 

Danton. 


146  Phases  and  Phrases. 

[CCCLXVI. 

Satire  lies  about  literary  men  during  their 
lives  and  eulogy  lies  about  them  after  their 


death. 


Voltaire. 


CCCLXVII. 

Tell  me  what  you  eat  and  I  will  tell  you 
what  you  are. 

Brillat-Savarin. 

CCCLXVIII. 

As  long  as  you  shall  be  fortunate  you 
shall  have  many  friends ;  if  the  times  be- 
come cloudy  you  shall  be  alone. 

Ovid. 

CCCLXIX. 

Every  man  is  the  architect  of  his  own 
fortune. 

Sallust. 

CCCLXX. 
No  more  love,  no  more  joy. 

La  Fontaine. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  147 

CCCLXXI. 
Nothing  exists  but  beauty. 

Guy  de  Maupassant. 

CCCLXXII. 

When  kings  are  building  draymen  have 
something  to  do. 

Schiller. 

CCCLXXIII. 

It  is  not  to  be  wise,  to  be  wiser  than  is 
necessary. 

Quinault. 

CCCLXXIV. 

There  is  no  greater  pain  than  to  remem- 
ber times  of  felicity  when  in  the  midst  of 
misery. 

Dante. 

CCCLXXV. 

Give  me  ten  accomplished  men  for  read- 
ers and  I  am  content. 

Landor. 

CCCLXXVI. 
As  necessity  is  the  lash  that  falls  upon  the 


i48  Phases  and  Phrases. 

common  people,  so  ennui  is  the  lash  of  the 
upper  classes. 

Schopenhauer. 

CCCLXXVII. 

Recollections  embellish  life,  oblivion 
alone  makes  it  possible. 

Gen.  Cialdini. 

CCCLXXVIII. 

We  shut  our  eyes  to  the  beginnings  of 
evil  because  they  are  small,  and  in  this 
weakness  lies  the  germ  of  our  misfortune. 

Amiel. 
CCCLXXIX. 

Imbecile !  The  facts  are  given  you,  like 
the  block  of  marble  or  the  elements  of  a 
landscape,  as  material  for  the  construction 
of  a  work  of  art.  Which  would  you  rather 
be,  a  photographer  or  Michael  Angelo  ? 

Julian  Hawthorne. 

CCCLXXX. 

Like  ants  and  bees  we  labor  at  general 
works  of  which  we  do  not  see  the  object. 

Ernest  Renan. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  149 

CCCLXXXI. 

There  are  tears  in  things. 

Virgil. 

CCCLXXXII. 

Keep  your  heart  on  high,  that  is  the  sum 
of  philosophy. 

Victor  Cousin. 

CCCLXXXIII. 

No  one  is  satisfied  with  his  fortune  or  dis- 
satisfied with  his  intellect. 

Deshoulieres. 

CCCLXXXIV. 

Resignation,  firm  resignation — that  is  the 
meaning  of  the  law  of  life,  that  is  the  solu- 
tion of  the  enigma. 

Tourgueneff. 

CCCLXXXV. 

Learning  in  one  man's  hand  is  a  sceptre ; 
in  another's  a  bauble. 

Michel  de  Montaigne. 

CCCLXXXVI. 

One  Of  the  misfortunes  of  life  is  that  we 


150  Phases  and  Phrases. 

must  read  thousands  of  books  only  to  dis- 
cover that  one  need  not  have  read  them. 

De  Quincey. 

CCCLXXXVII. 

>**     In  nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty,  for  a 
woman  to  play  her  heart  in  the  game  of 
\/     love  is  to  play  at  cards  with  a  sharper,  and 
gold  coin  against  counterfeit  pieces. 

Paul  Bourget. 

CCCLXXXVIII. 

If  all  women's  faces  were  cast  in  the  same 
mold,  that  mold  would  be  the  grave  of  love. 

Bichat. 

CCCLXXXIX. 

Man  believes  by  instinct  and  doubts  by 
reason. 

Jouffroy. 

cccxc. 
Bad  maxims  are  worse  than  bad  acts. 

Jean-Jacques  Rousseau. 

//  Ml; 


Phases  and  Phrases.  151 

cccxci. 

Advice  of  old  men  is  as  the  sun  in  Win- 
ter; it  enlightens  without  warming. 

Vauvenargues. 

cccxcn. 

You  complain  of  ingratitude;  were  you 
not  repaid  by  your  pleasure  in  doing  good  ? 

Levis. 

CCCXCIII. 

Why  the  word  "  always,"  on  mortal  lips? 
Francois  Coppee. 

cccxciv. 

Let  us  efface  capital  punishment.     I  am 
willing,  but  let  messieurs  the  assassins  begin. 

Alphonse  Karr. 

cccxcv. 

The  good  is  nothing  but  the  beautiful  in 
action. 

Jean-Jacques  Rousseau. 

cccxcvi. 

^•A  man  who  tells  nothing,  or  who  tells  all, 
will  equally  have  nothing  told  to  him. 

Lord  Chesterfield. 


152  Phases  and  Phrases. 

cccxcvu. 

During  life  you  were  indeed  good  work- 
ing camels,  but  when  you  are  dead  your 
ashes  make  no  better  compost  than  those  of 

poorer  animals. 

Burton. 

CCCXCVIII. 

I  have  three  chairs  in  my  house :  one  for 
solitude,  two  for  friendship,  three  for  society. 

Thoreau. 

cccxcix. 

Charity — providing  you  have  a  Superin- 
tendent, a  Board  of  Visitors,  a  Ticket  Sys- 
tem, a  steady  moral  pleasure  constantly 
brought  to  bear,  a  Judicial  Investigation 
and  a  Board  of  Administration,  and  at  the 
same  time  pay  personal  visits — like  a  cloak 
covers  a  multitude  of  sins. 

Barnet  Phillips. 

CD. 

Perhaps  no  man  shall  ever  know  whether 
it  is  better  to  wear  night-caps  or  not. 

Samuel  Johnson . 


Phases  and  Phrases.  153 

CDI. 

If  the  hair  of  your  Hercules  was  shaved 
off  there  would  not  remain  skull  enough  to 
hold  his  brains. 

Benvenuto  Cellini. 

CDII. 

Like  diamonds  we  are  cut  by  our  own 
dust. 

Webster. 

CDIII. 

Ignorant  enthusiasm  is  the  most  terrible 
of  ferocious  beasts. 

Condorcet. 

CDIV. 

The  fool  though  he  be  associated  with  a 
wise  man  all  his  life  will  perceive  the  truth 
as  little  as  a  spoon  tastes  the  soup. 

Buddha. 

CDV. 

A  fool  always  finds  a  greater  fool  to  ad- 
mire him. 

Boileau. 


i54  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CDVI. 

No  man  can  be  valiant  unless  he  hazards 
his  body,  nor  rich  unless  he  hazards  his 
soul. 

Warner. 

CDVII. 

Genius  is  only  the  infinite  capacity  of 
taking  trouble. 

Longfellow. 

CDVIII. 

Everyone  knows  what  harm  the  bad  do, 
but  who  knows  the  mischief  done  by  the 
good? 

William  Makepeace  Thackeray. 

CDIX. 

The  gods  are  ever  wisely  ignorant  of  the 
defects  of  a  horse  or  of  a  woman. 

Burton. 

CDX. 

There  is  nothing  more  terrible  than  ener- 
getic ignorance. 

Goethe. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  155 

CDXI. 

He  administers  justice  with  the  same  care 
before  and  after  dinner. 

Burton. 

CDXII. 

Labor  makes  thought  healthy  and  thought 
makes  labor  happy. 

John  Ruskin. 

CDXIII. 

-A  man  declares  his  love,  a  woman  con- 
fesses hers. 

Mme.  de  Genlis. 

CDXIV. 

Love  without  love-letters  is  love  among 
chambermaids. 

Duchesse  de  Longueville. 

CDXV. 
Call  no  man  happy  till  he  is  dead. 

Solon. 

CDXVI. 

Call  no  man  unhappy  till  he  is  married."*1*  0C/^ 

Socrates.  > 

' 


156  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CDXVII. 
Modesty  is  the  best  profligacy. 

Honore  de  Balzac. 

CDXVIII. 

Women  and  music  should  never  be  dated. 
Oliver  Goldsmith. 

CDXIX. 

What  is  new  is  not  true,  what  is  true  is 
not  new. 

Burton. 

CDXX. 

God  pays,  but  he  does  not  pay  every 
Saturday. 

Alphonse  Karr. 

CDXXI. 

Never  mind  whom  you  praise,  but  be 
very  careful  whom  you  blame. 

Edmund  Gosse. 

CDXXII. 

There  are  no  principles,  there  are  only 
events ;  there  are  no  laws,  there  are  only 
circumstances. 

Honore  de  Balzac. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  157 


CDXXIII. 
He  who  loves  is  in  the  right. 


Schiller. 


CDXXIV. 

The  same  identical  thought,  I  suppose, 
goes  round  in  a  slow  whirl  from  one  genera- 
tion to  another  as  I  have  seen  a  withered 
leaf  do  in  the  vortex  of  a  brook. 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne. 

CDXXV. 

Most  women  are  vain,  some  men  are  not. 

Disraeli. 

CDXXVI. 

There  are  but  two  boons  to  make  life 
worth,  living :  love  of  art  and  art  of  love. 

Edmond  Haraucourt. 

CDXXVII. 
Let  us  be  clement  to  the  poor  that  have 

failed. 

Francois  Coppee. 


158  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CDXXVIII. 

Genius  is  the  talent  of  a  man  who  is  dead. 
Edmond  de  Goncourt. 

CDXXIX. 

Hypocrisy  is  a  privileged  vice ;  it  closes 
everybody's  mouth  and  enjoys  in  peace  sov- 
ereign impunity. 

Moliere. 

CDXXX. 

Most  persons  who  have  reached  middle 
age  know  absolutely  nothing  that  is  worth 
knowing  except  what  they  saw  during  the 
one  brief,  sweet,  youthful  hour  when  they 
were  in  love. 

William   Winter. 

CDXXXI. 

No  chain  is  stronger  than  its  weakest 
link. 

Susan  Marr  Spalding. 

CDXXXII. 
Vain  all  the  toils  of  man. 

Oscar  Fay  Adams. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  159 

CDXXXIII. 
Now  money's  the  measure  of  all. 

Grant  Allen. 
CDXXXIV. 

Past  sounding  brass  are  love's  tones  sweet. 

W.  H.  Jewitt. 

CDXXXV. 

Amid  the  snow  the  birds  are  fed. 

Andrew  Lang. 

CDXXXVI. 
Ah  !  lost  are  the.  loves  of  long  ago. 

R.  Le  Gallienne. 

CDXXXVII. 

Make  out  of  life  what  ye  may. 

Hunter  McCulloch. 

CDXXXVIII. 

No  man  may  have  all  that  he  please. 
X    Q^^Jr_t         Brander  Matthews. 

CDXXXIX. 

Time    makes    thrusts    that    you   cannot 
parry.     *K»  .4/»A.  <su    ffjytrtL  C-O~.*4   trt 

Louise  Chandler  Moulton. 


ft  V 

-Cv^rJJxAp  • 
J 


160  Phases  and  Phrases, 

CDXL. 

Look  you  keep  love  when  your  dreams 
decay. 

John  Payne. 

CDXLI. 

Oh,  the  mellow  beam  of  the  suns  that 
wane. 

Emily  Pfeiffer. 

CDXLII. 

Fame  lives,  though  dust  decays. 

Clinton  Scollard. 

CDXLIII. 

Fate's  a  Fiddler,  Life's  a  Dance. 

W.  E.  Henley. 

CDXLIV. 

Many  loves  will  a  great  heart  hold. 

C.  H.  Waring. 

CDXLV. 

Most  is  won  when  most  is  dared.  — 

W.  E.  Henley. 


Phases  and  Phrases.  161 

CDXLVI. 

What  man  would  find  the  old  in  the  new 
love's  face,,     WtAM    •W^****.    *.+*+*•     I**  * 
1      c  v      Henry  C.  Bunner. 


"  CDXLVII. 

How  many  Winters  waste  our   fainting 
fate. 

John  Payne. 

CDXLVIII. 
The  barque  of  Hope  is  trim  and  tough. 

Frank  Dempster  Sherman. 

CDXL1X. 

Hope  is  born  and  not  made. 

Walter  Crane. 

CDL. 
Oh  !  love's  but  a  dance.  ~ 

v~,  ^  Austin  Dobson. 

*M*A^U 

CDLI. 

Ah,  me,  if  I  had  but  wings  ! 

Austin  Dobson. 


162  Phases  and  Phrases. 

CDLII. 
Man  is  naturally  selfish  and  personal. 

Francisque  Sarcey. 

CDLIII. 

To  be  good,  one  must  believe  at  least  a 
little  in  the  good  ;  one  must  believe,  not 
precisely  that  the  world  is  good,  but  that  it 
is  made  to  become  good. 

Jules  Lemaltre. 

CDLIV. 

Take  away  from  man  untruthfulness  and 
you  take  from  him  at  the  same  time  happi- 
ness. 

Ibsen. 


FINIS. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


&  NAR27199P 


•••• 


^ 


•VP    j 


A    000754076    8 


